A BladeBreaker Christmas
by LuxahHeart
Summary: The boys are sick, and it's only a week until Christmas! What will they do, now they're all stuck with each other and unable to do much beyond get on each other's nerves? Yaoi, terrible attempts at humor, and fluff.
1. Mother's get sick to

**Author's note:**

 **Gonna give my hand at a humor and holiday fic. I wanted to do something for Halloween and Thanksgiving, but had been too engrossed with Wrong Side of Heaven to do anything. Not to mention I was actually sick during that time as well.**

 **The goal for this will to have the dates actually line up a bit with the actual dates of December, I know it says it's only a week till Christmas in the fic even if it's not in real life right now. My goal is to only update once a week, until Christmas so that way I can kind of drag out the days in the fic till then.**

 **The first chapter kind of popped into my head, so this is kind of a spur of the moment fic.**

 **This takes place after G-Rev, their looks reflect that season and time frame.  
Update:  
**

 **So, I have lost all interest in this fic, even though I have like 5 chapters out and the plot was just spiraling out of control, so I'm taking down the second chapter and leaving this as a one-shot.**

 **Enjoy the show!**

* * *

 **December 18th**

"You can't be sick, mothers don't get sick Ray." Tyson wailed out, causing the neko-jin to stop his actions of blowing his nose.

Ray rose an eyebrow at the bluenette questioningly, since when did they start calling him their mother? "Sorry to upset you so much Ty, but I am sick. I have the same cold you all do." Ray explained, going back to blowing his nose very loudly.

"Then what are we going to do about dinner?" Tyson whined again, pulling at the corners of his hair that stuck out from under his hat as he slumped against the table they were all sitting at.

All four boys had been called for a meeting by Grandpa Granger to discuss the holidays and what each boy was going to do, at first it was decided each boy was going to go back to their hometowns for the holidays, but that was before they each came down with a terrible cold. It took them each a day to rearrange their plans, canceling flights and making phone calls to apologize to their friends and families that they were expected to see. Christmas was only a week away, but with their colds and the snow storms not giving up they decided it best to just stick it out at the Granger's dojo for Christmas.

The last of the boys to have gotten sick was Ray, having just gotten off the phone with Lee back in their village he had come down to join the others at the table in the dining room. His nose was red and sore from having to wipe it constantly, his golden eyes were puffy and swollen, and he hadn't bothered to wrap his hair that morning and it was all over the place and hung around his back and shoulders.

"We should just ask Grandpa to order take out, I don't think I can stomach another bowl of chili…" Max mumbled, laying his forehead against the table.

Being the second one to have gotten sick, Max hadn't bothered to dress properly during the weeks of the sickness and he was still dressed in his baby blue pj's. His face was tinted pink under his blue eyes, his hair was a mess upon his head as he hadn't bothered to brush it. His normal fair complexion was flushed, having come down to the table after another trip to the bathroom to upchuck his lunch.

"No, I'll order the food." Ray spoke up, grabbing another tissue from one of the many boxes they had placed around the house during the past weeks. "We'll need food that's helpful to us, not something that'll make us worse." His words were cut off by another nose blowing session, he made a face at the snot in the tissue and wadded it into a small ball and stuck it with the others that were in his pants pocket.

"Aw, I wanted junk food." Tyson mumbled, using the sleeve of his pj's to wipe the trail of snot from under his nose causing the other boys to cringe.

Tyson was the first to have gotten sick, having played out in the fresh snow without a jacket and then trained in it. Staying up well past his designated bed time that night, and then the water to the house had become cold so his normal hot shower was another cause for his body to go into overdrive and he fell ill. It was no wonder though, that he was the reason the others had caught his sickness since he couldn't even be bothered to use a tissue.

"Ray's right, we need something that'll help so shut up." Kai finally spoke up, not bothering to look at them all as they sat around him at the head of table.

Kai had even gotten sick, though since he had decided to train harder out in the cold air it wasn't all that surprising since he felt that with the two of his teammates down he had to pick up the team's slack. He was trying to put up his normal walls and act like it wasn't bothering him, though, even with his cold mask on his skin was paler than normal and there were dark circles under his eyes.

He kept them closed while sitting at the table, his arms over his chest, but when they were open they were just as swollen and puffy as the others. He was the only one of the four to still dress and keep up his normal appearance, his hair was combed, and his blue triangles still painted just as neatly on his cheeks as before. His trusty white scarf tied around his neck, with his normal jacket and purple pants and top.

If anything about Kai was different though, it was the fact that he was moodier while sick. Just the simplest of things caused him to snap, and the others had done their best to steer clear from him and stayed out of his way when he decided to emerge from his room.

"If I need remind you, it's your fault we're all in this sorry state." Kai growled out, slightly opening one eye to glare over at Tyson on his left. "Use a damn tissue you pig!" He shouted, shoving the box from the center of the table at Tyson.

"Alright, geesh. No need to remind me." Tyson huffed, plucking out the last tissue as the others had been used up by Ray. "So, what are you going to order us Ray?" He turned to the neko-jin on his right, his normal spot across from Kai at the other end.

There was a momentary pause while Tyson and Ray blew their noses, wadding up the tissue before Ray spoke. "I don't know yet…" Ray sighed out, his attention turning to their blonde friend still face down on the table on his left. "Max? Hey, wake up buddy." Ray gently nudged him, and Max grumbled under his breath but sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry, what were we talking about again?" Max yawned, promptly sneezing right after and quickly covered it with the back of his arm. "Tissue, now." He said, looking horrified at the sleeve of his pj's.

"One sec, I'll get the box from the kitchen." Ray pushed his chair back, the legs scraping against the wooden floor.

"See, this is why you're the mother." Tyson called to Ray's back, even if the other boy was already in the other room Ray could hear his words.

Max gave Ray a warm smile as he sat the box of tissue down in front of him, Ray didn't answer Tyson until he sat back down in his chair. His shoulders slumped back as he leaned against the back of the chair, looking up at the ceiling.

"Ty, I'm not sure if you've noticed but I'm a guy." Ray rolled his eyes, causing the headache he was already feeling in the side of his head surge.

"Yeah, but who does all the cooking and cleaning around here?" Tyson asked, making sure to use a tissue for the snot that was starting to run again.

Ray pondered it over for a moment, then let out a sigh. "Just because I do that, doesn't make me your mother." Then he remembered that the dishes in the sink were starting to pile up, of course he was the only one to cook and clean around there. Even in his sickened state he was sitting there cringing at all the house work that had to be done, Tyson could see it on Ray's face and smiled triumphantly.

"See, what'd I tell you? You're the mother around here." Tyson laughed, though the others didn't join in his joy.

"Well if I'm the mother, who's the father?" Ray bit back, his face flushed from embarrassment.

Tyson's smile grew across the width of his face and he turned to look at Kai, visibly seeing the blush on Ray's face deepen.

"Obviously Kai is." Max couldn't hold his laughter in at Tyson's words, his laughter was hoarse and croaky, and it strained his already sore throat.

"What makes you say that?!" Ray shouted, if it wasn't for his sickness he wouldn't have been able to claim his red face was from blushing. Tucking his chin into his chest, feigning he had to blow his nose again so he didn't have to look at the others.

"For starters, he's always yelling at us for running around the house. Constantly telling us when to go to bed, he's super strict on what we eat and when we eat. The list goes on." Tyson explained, Max's laughter had died down as the strain was too much on his throat and he started to cough.

By then the others were wondering how the conversation had steered this way, obviously it wasn't what they had all been called down there to discuss so with that Kai pushed back in his chair. Everyone's attention snapped to him as he stood there, trying to still his legs from wobbling under his weight. He'd be damned if his teammates saw him falter, even in the slightest.

"Where are you going?" Tyson all but shouted.

"Since we've nothing better to talk about, I'm going back to bed. Call me when you idiots have dinner here." Kai said roughly, his throat was dry, and he headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. Even though his legs gave way under him, he caught himself against the doorframe and pushed himself out of the dining room into the kitchen.

"I'll go look up a place to order from." With that Ray excused himself from the table as well, Max's head had come back down on the table as he passed out again.

Rubbing the side of his head Ray walked into the kitchen, hearing Tyson sneeze that shook the house and sighed. If only Ray had been lucky like Daichi, Hilary, and Kenny and avoided getting sick. Daichi had ran off before winter even hit Japan, having come from an island the cold weather wasn't something he wanted or could deal with. Hilary had dropped by one time and the second she saw how sick Tyson was she hadn't shown back up to the dojo, but the boys didn't really care since she would just hound them for all for getting sick in the first place. Kenny had come by every now and then the past few weeks, trying to help ease the boy's sickness to no avail.

A little light bulb appeared in Ray's mind, Kenny's parents ran a ramen shop and the hot broth would be soothing on all their throats. Without thinking much, he spoke up to Kai, who's back was to him at the sink refilling another glass of water.

"How's some ramen sound?" Kai shifted slightly, his keen senses having dulled slightly from being sick and once he recollected himself from Ray's words he turned to face the neko-jin. Even with Ray sick, he still had his quietness about him.

"What?" Kai asked, eyebrow raised.

"Ramen, the broth would be good for us all. I can get a discount if I order it from Kenny's parents." Ray explained, going over to the phone that hung off the wall by the fridge.

Kai only nodded as he sipped his water, closing his eyes again as he leaned against the counter of the sink. Ray just half smiled and plucked the phone off the receiver, dialing the ramen shops number and placing the order after Kenny had been the one to pick up.

Hanging the phone up Ray went about and grabbed a glass from the cabinet next to the stove, across from the fridge, and stood in front of Kai a bit apprehensively. He looked to have fallen asleep standing there, his arms across his chest and the hand that held the glass was slowly slipping from his grasp.

Ray cleared his throat, but Kai didn't respond, so he gently poked him in the arm. "Kai?" Said Russian jumped, his eyes popping open and he immediately scowled.

"Water?" Ray showed him his glass and Kai moved to the side, letting Ray fill his cup. "You're really burning up, should take that scarf of yours off." Ray mumbled, but it was loud enough for Kai to hear.

"And you should mind your own business, Kon." Kai spat back, almost slamming the bottom of his glass on the counter. "Just because Tyson has declared you the 'mother' of this house, doesn't mean you get to act like that towards me."

"I wouldn't dream of it, _father_." Ray snorted, rolling his eyes again.

Even his own temperament had flared under his sickness, normally he was cool and collected but now he was too sick to care who he snapped at. "Kenny will be here in thirty minutes, I'm going to take a shower." His tone was still cold, downing his water he slammed his own cup down and spun on his heel, his hair following his movements as he stomped out of the kitchen.

Kai just watched the younger male leave, unsure of what to say or do. All their normal attitudes had changed over the past weeks, Max wasn't hyper and bubbly but sluggish and almost always sleeping. Tyson was louder than before and at the flip of a switch he was whiny or irritating, more so than normal Kai thought at least. It was no wonder Grandpa Granger hadn't really been seen since he had called the teens down to the dining room, once they had all shown up he scampered off to his room.

Hiro hadn't really been present either, but Kai wasn't all that concerned with having to deal with the eldest Granger brother. Not after the fiasco that was BEGA, when Hiro did show up from time to time Kai had always found a way to avoid him. Why he bothered sticking around the Granger dojo was beyond him, aside from the fact he had come back from a near death experience against Brooklyn and the Blitzkrieg Boys had already up and left Japan without him.

As Kai went about to washing out the glass he had been using Tyson came into the kitchen, Kai rolled his eyes and promptly turned his back on the bluenette.

"Max passed out again, I can't carry him to his room. Mind giving me a hand?"

Kai washed out the glass and sat it back in the cupboard before turning to Tyson, giving him a slight nod he followed him back into the dining room and pulled Max out of his chair and carried him to his room. Even with his own weak body, he pushed past the burning in his arms and chest, making sure not to drop the youngest member of his team to his room. Tyson sat down on the edge of Max's bed, pulling the sheets up over his chest as Kai started back out of the room.

"Quit swapping spit, that's how he ended up this way in the first place." Kai growled, shutting the door before Tyson had time to retaliate.

With his skin burning under his heavy clothes, Kai started to unwrap his scarf from around his neck as Ray stepped out of the bathroom across the hall. Kai abruptly stopped, almost as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't be. Ray smirked, it was a sloppy one, but he didn't say anything as he crossed the hall to his bedroom and closed the door without a word.

Kai let out a ragged breath, his throat made a racking noise and it strained. He pulled his scarf off his neck, taking it to his room that sat beside Ray's own and made sure to set the scarf down on his desk gently so as not to break the wood from the weights he had placed in it.

Even with the scarf gone, Kai's body was still on fire and he shrugged off his jacket resting it over the back of the chair that sat in front of his desk. The cold air in the room did nothing to help his torched-up skin, but he didn't feel like changing completely and just plopped himself down on his bed that he had stripped of it's sheets. Sleep came to him quickly, and before he knew it he was sound asleep as his skin burned.

By the time Kai had woken up and trudged back downstairs for another glass of water, his mouth drier and his throat was aching worse than before. Ray was at the door getting the food Kenny had brought over, the little boy was covered in head to toe in heavy winter wear with a medical mask over his mouth. Kai rolled his eyes at the sight, leave it to Kenny to take all precautions to not catch their illness and Kai silently cursed the little nerd for being spared this torment.

"Thanks again Chief, we'll see you around." Ray said, his words were more nasally sounding as he shut the door. "He also brought some more medicine, I didn't even realize we had run out." Ray said as he carried the plastic bags into the kitchen, walking past Kai as he had stopped at the bottom of the stairwell.

Once again Kai rolled his eyes, Tyson was right for having declared Ray the mother. He babied them all too much, and the stress on Ray's body wasn't helping him get over his own cold. It was because he had tried to heal them all himself he had even gotten sick, wordlessly Kai followed the trail of raven hair into the kitchen.

"It's all the same kind, so just take a bowl." Ray didn't bother to look over his shoulder, having heard Kai's hard footsteps across the wooden floor as he immediately went to the cupboard for the glass he had previously used.

Ray unpacked the Styrofoam bowls from the plastic bags, setting them out on the counter in a neat line and dug out the two bottles of medicine without looking up once from what he was doing. When he turned to get the measuring cup he almost ran head first into Kai's chest, as he had moved over to grab a bowl of ramen.

"Sorry." Ray stammered a bit, his face flushing again and before he could say anything back he sneezed loudly into his shirt.

"You need to rest, you're not going to get over your cold any faster worrying about us." Kai rolled his eyes, by now he had done that so many times he could feel his eyes straining.

"Well someone has to, we can't expect Tyson to take care of himself. He's the reason we're like this, idiot… Max is too weak to do it himself, and grandpa won't stick around the same room with any of us for more than a few minutes." Ray sighed out, by-passing Kai to the drawer he was previously walking to. "And you're too stubborn." He finished, fishing out the plastic measuring cup and struggled with the child-proof lid of the medicine bottle for a few minutes before turning to Kai.

Kai rose an eyebrow, having picked a bowl off the counter and just stared at the outstretched hand with the medicine bottle in it. "Really?" He sighed, but didn't bother rolling his eyes as he took the bottle from Ray's hand and opened it, handing it back.

"Oh, shut up." Ray huffed out, measuring out the right amount into the plastic cup and pouring its contents into two bowls. "Take your medicine to, you hear me?" Ray started, picking up the two bowls of ramen off the counter and gave a hard look at the taller male.

"Yes, _mother_." Kai huffed, but smirked as Ray smiled and left the kitchen with the two bowls to Max's room.

He didn't know why he did it, the medicine was slick and tasted horrible as it slid down his sore throat, but he took it anyways. He cringed as the taste clung to his tongue, it was no wonder Ray had mixed it with the ramen for the other two. If he hadn't Kai was sure Max and Tyson wouldn't have taken it at all, which wouldn't have helped any of them. Before retreating to his own room, he poured the medicine in a new clear plastic cup and set it next to the last bowl on the counter for Ray.

Instead of going back to his room he took his normal seat at the kitchen table as Ray came back, empty handed and went into the kitchen himself to grab his own bowl. Kai smiled to himself as he heard Ray mumbled something under his breath, before he too appeared in the dining room with his own bowl. Setting down in his normal chair, across the table from Kai. They sat in silence as they ate, once again Ray was right, and the hot broth helped soothe their sore throats.

Still without saying anything, Kai stood and went over to the other end of the table and plucked up Ray's half eaten bowl. He had been unable to stomach most of it, as it was already starting to push its way back up his throat.

"Just put the lid back on it, I might be able to finish it later." Ray said as Kai was already halfway out of the dining room, and laid his head on the cool wood of the table. His ears perked as Kai came back into the dining room, but he didn't bother to lift his head.

"What are we going to do for Christmas?" Ray breathed out, the medicine already doing it's work and he was getting tired.

"Why are you worried about that?" Kai scoffed, taking his seat again.

"Well, just cus we're all sick doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate it." Ray offered, his voice wasn't as nasally as before but his words still croaked out.

Kai sighed, resting into the back of his chair crossing his arms across his chest. "I don't know." He shrugged, for him his body wasn't as tense, and his muscles weren't aching as badly as his body temperature was slightly cooling.

"Some help you are." Ray mumbled and sat back up, having to push his bangs out of his eyes. "I guess we can at least decorate a little, nothing to big since it's just us. Maybe set up the tree, I had already bought some presents for the guys." He shrugged, and yawned where his sharper teeth showed.

"Weren't you leaving?" Kai asked.

"Yeah, I was just going to give them to you all before everyone left." Ray said, laying back against the table as he fought to keep his eyes open. "Got you something too." His voice trailed, and he yawned again as his eyes closed.

For a minute Kai just sat there, unsure if Ray had actually fallen asleep until he could see the shallow breathing from the neko-jin. With a sigh he pushed himself from the table, walking the space and pulling the Ray from his chair and into his arms. Unlike with Max, Kai's arms were more locked into place as he carried Ray back to his room. Even in his sickened state, Ray's room was pristine and clean. His bed was made, looking as if it hadn't even been touched and the room was colder than even Kai's own as Ray cracked the window open. That was when Kai realized that Ray's skin was burning more than his own, and he sighed again as he laid the raven-haired boy on his bed gently.

Noticing the stacked presents in the corner of the room at the foot of Ray's bed, Kai shook his head a bit as he left the room to gather his blanket from his room. Being unable to untuck Ray's own from under him, he came back and draped it over the neko-jin's visibly shaking body. The second the warmth of the blanket touched his skin, Ray pulled the ends closer under his chin and turned on his side into a tight ball.

"Thanks." He mumbled out, just as Kai had closed the bedroom door behind him.

Maybe what Tyson had said about both of them was true.


	2. Mother and Father are Fighting Again

**December 19** **th**

Ray had to hold back the sneeze that was threatening to force its way out as he carried down a dusty box from the attic. Almost tripping over his pant legs that were dragging under his feet, he managed to reach the living room where the other boys were rummaging through boxes. Max was busy pulling out the string of lights, through his sleepy hazed vision he was only managing to tangle them up more so than they already were from having been packed away. Tyson was still fighting with the fake tree, trying to figure out which piece fit into the other while Kai had come behind Ray with a box in his own arms.

"Max, if you can't get them just leave them for now." Ray sighed out, his back cracking as he stood back up from having placed the box he had been carrying on the floor.

Even though he had a new dose of medicine, his body was still aching, and his fever hadn't seemed to drop but he didn't feel like laying in bed all day either. So, once everyone had a healthy breakfast that he managed to cook for them, he declared they were going to decorate the tree. Tyson was the first to show his enthusiasm about it, but with him fighting with the fake tree and cursing under his breath in Japanese his enthusiasm was slowly dying out.

If anyone had been combating their sickness better than the other it was Tyson, since he was the one to have started it all and it had been in his system the longest. Max's body was just more and more tired, and even though he seemed enthusiastic with Ray's idea it was hard for him to keep his eyes open for more than a few moments at a time. The only reason Kai had agreed to help was, so he could make sure they didn't all push themselves too much, already having to scorn Ray several times and stopping him from carrying the bigger boxes down the attic himself.

Ray himself was just glad to have the others down there helping him, he knew he could have done it by himself if he wasn't still sick. Though, this bit of time with his teammates gave him something else to look forward to since he couldn't be back home in the mountains of the White Tiger Village. He was sure his old teammates would have called him by now, but seeing as it was close to two his time and they hadn't called to check on him he didn't really think all that much about it. Keeping himself occupied with decorating and keeping the youngest member of his team awake long enough to actually help, he had his hands full.

Tyson stopped fighting with the tree long enough to glance behind him at Max, the cords to the lights having wrapped around him as he hunched over wheezing between breaths as he slept.

"Aw, isn't he the cutest?" Tyson beamed, his eyes sparkling a bit as he watched Max sleep.

Ray simply shook his head, crossing over to the blonde American and started to undo the cords carefully so as not to wake him. "Guess I should put him to bed." As Ray reached out for Max, his hand was swatted away, and he quickly turned to the body the hand belonged to.

"Hiro?" Tyson and Ray shouted in unison, Hiro just shook his head a bit.

"What are you all doing out of bed?" Hiro huffed out, glancing around at the younger teens in the room. His eyes hidden behind his red shades, though his eyebrows were furrowed over the rims.

"You shouldn't be straining yourselves like this." He placed his hands on his hips, though his tone changed to a friendlier one than before. "I'll carry Max, Ray. You shouldn't be lifting anything right now; your hand is burning up already."

Ray flushed a bit, hanging his head a bit in shame. Of course, Hiro would say that, and by just looking at Ray, Hiro could tell that he had been straining himself more than the others. With his hair carelessly tied behind his back in a red hair tie, shirtless and pants that dragged on the floor. It was the only way for him to feel somewhat comfortable doing the work load, even if it was his idea.

"Sorry Hiro, just didn't feel like being stuck in bed all day. It's all we've done these past weeks." Ray mumbled out, still unable to look back up at the older male.

"I understand how you feel Ray, but look at poor Max." Hiro sighed out, dropping down in a crouch to pick up said blonde. Pulling the still sleeping Max into his arms. "Have you taken anything?" He asked Ray, now that he was eyelevel with him.

Ray nodded a bit sheepishly. "I made sure everyone had a new dose this morning after breakfast."

"Why can't we have pills, that liquid stuff is nasty." Tyson huffed out, his throat croaked a bit as he spoke.

Choosing to ignore his younger brother, Hiro turned back to look at Ray. "I appreciate you taking care of everyone, but they're old enough to do it themselves. Off to bed with you too." He said, standing up with Max clutched in his arms.

Ray nodded and moved to stand, halfway up when Kai approached them both. "I agree with what you're saying Hiro, but you don't have to baby Ray. He's old enough to make decisions himself." He said crossly, still looking like he wasn't combating the same illness as the others.

Ray shifted his gaze at Kai to his right, his mouth hanging slightly open in shock. "Kai?" He breathed out, never would he have though Kai would have sided with him, not after all the berating he had received earlier that day from the Russian.

Hiro shifted Max in his arms, his attention turning to Kai. "And you shouldn't be alright with this, Kai." He put emphasis on the other's name, and his eyebrows furrowed once more over the rim of his glasses.

"You of all people should be concerned about the well being of your teammates, aren't you just as sick as they are?" Hiro rose a light-blue eyebrow at Kai, who snorted in retort.

"Just because we're all busy doing something to keep us occupied, doesn't mean I don't care about their wellbeing. Max is just always tired, he hasn't done anything strenuous but sit there and tangle the lights. Tyson has been there fighting with the damn tree, while I've kept a watch on Ray." He crossed his arms over his chest, his back muscles tensing as he looked at Hiro challengingly.

Hiro shook his head, his light-blue bangs brushing across his forehead. "Just because that's all they've done, doesn't mean rest isn't important."

"Whatever." Kai rolled his eyes, even if it caused him pain to do so. He turned on his heel, done with the conversation as he went over to help Tyson place the top portion of the tree down.

"Thanks Kai." Tyson gave him a smile, a bit relieved someone had finally come to his rescue. "How long are you staying for bro?" He jumped down from the stool he had been balancing on, turning to his brother who was still in the corner of the living room.

"For a while, dad should be here in a few days as well." Hiro explained, Tyson smiled wide again.

"That's cool, Gramps is out at the moment." Tyson said, going to the tangle of lights on the floor.

"Tyson, just leave them right now." Hiro huffed out, his words falling on deaf ears as Tyson promptly ignored him. "Fine, do what you want. But Ray, you need to go to bed to break that fever of yours." He said over his shoulder, having turned from the neko-jin to start for the stairs.

Ray nodded, sneezing right after into the fold of his arm. "Good idea." He mumbled, dragging his feet behind Hiro across the living room to the stairwell.

Kai watched the backs of the two as they disappeared up the stairs, an unknown anger swelling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like how Hiro could just show up and demand HIS teammate to do something, nor did he like how Ray was so complacent in following Hiro's orders. It was Ray's idea to begin with, even if Kai had protested the idea at first, he didn't think Ray would have given up so easily just because Hiro had asked him to.

"Kai? Little help?" Tyson broke through his watching, even if there was no one to watch on the stairwell anymore.

Kai turned to Tyson behind him, the cords wrapped around his legs and waist. Kai sighed and moved over to help him, untangling the cords and they wrapped them around the tree without any more complications. Just as Tyson was plugging the cord into the outlet, Hiro came back down and stood a few feet away with his arms crossed over his chest.

"If Ray's fever gets any higher, he may have to go to the hospital." His words caused the other two boys to turn and look at him.

"How bad is it?" Tyson asked, rubbing the snot that had slipped down his upper lip with a tissue he had stuffed in his pants pocket.

"It's pretty bad, 103. To be exact. I'll call Grandpa and see if he can get some stronger medicine while he's out, but Ray and Max need their rest." With that Hiro turned and started for the phone in the kitchen, Tyson and Kai didn't say a word until he disappeared through the kitchens door.

"Man, I never got that high of a temp. Wonder why Ray's is so high, even Max only ever reached 100." Tyson mumbled out, plugging in the cord and the lights came to life in an assortment of colors around the tree. "Perfect!" Tyson beamed, stepping back to marvel at his work.

Kai took one glance at the tree before he started for the stairwell, without a word he climbed the steps and walked the length of the hall to Ray's door. Already he could feel the cold air under the crack of the door passing through against his sock clad feet, without knocking he pushed the door open. Ray was laying on his bed, a cold washcloth laid across his forehead, but he was awake starring at the ceiling under his own covers as Kai's blanket had been tossed to the floor.

"Hey." Ray managed to cough out, his throat straining and he moaned against the pain as it subsided.

"Why are you so impossible?" Kai sighed out, shaking his head slightly.

Ray gave him a questioning look, as he came and sat on the end of his bed by his feet. "What's that supposed to mean?" Ray asked as he shifted himself against the back of his headboard, the washcloth falling into his lap.

"You wouldn't have been this way, if you had just stayed away from us. Now, you might have to go to the hospital if your fever doesn't break." Kai did all he could not to scorn him, but he still growled in the back of his throat.

"Gee, didn't know you cared so much. Growl a bit louder next time though, I'm sure your sore throat will greatly appreciate it." Ray bit back, having heard the growl Kai had tried to suppress and could see the way Kai's face had pained afterwards.

Both Kai's eyebrows rose, having to remind himself the only reason Ray wasn't acting normal was because he was ill. "I just don't want Hiro jumping down my throat because of you." He said, narrowing his crimson eyes at the younger male. "The lights are on the tree, what else should we do?" He sighed out, and Ray's eyes went wide a bit.

"Don't worry about it, Hiro's right… We all should still be resting, it was stupid of me to have us up and about." Ray mumbled out, fiddling with the washcloth in his lap.

"Tyson didn't seem to mind it, and if Max was awake I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing." Kai breathed out a bit easier, he didn't really care to see Ray looking so down.

"And you?" Ray asked, looking up through his bangs.

"I was just there to make sure you all didn't collapse." Kai shook his head, standing up as he was becoming a bit uncomfortable talking so much.

Even though things had changed between him and his teammates, at times he was still uneasy being around any of them for long periods of time. As he reached the door to Ray's room, having gathered his blanket from the floor, Hiro opened the door and both males froze in place. Having ditched his shades for the time being, his eyes narrowed as he glowered down at Kai.

"What're you doing?" He asked, his tone laced with accusation.

"What's it matter to you?" Kai bit back, his grip on his blanket tightening under it. His own eyes narrowing at the older male, and he almost growled again in the back of his throat at him if it wasn't for his sore throat.

"Ray needs sleep, you being in here is keeping him awake."

"Then why did you come back?" Kai's tone carrying the same accusation Hiro had in his before, not backing down even though all he wanted to really do was push past Hiro to get out of there.

Before Hiro could respond Ray cleared his throat, both men turned their attention to him. "Will you two stop it, it's fine. I was awake anyways Hiro, I can't sleep." He sighed out, and then his shoulders shook as he coughed rather hard into his hands.

The other two stood and waited for Ray's coughing fit to subside, when it did Ray leaned back against his headboard and closed his eyes. "Why did you come back Hiro?" He asked, almost breathless.

"I came to check on you, that's all. Since you're awake I'll let you know Grandpa is going to bring you some stronger medicine, we don't need you in the hospital." Ray simply nodded at Hiro's words, his eyes still closed. "We'll let you rest now, when he gets back I'll bring you the medicine." With that Hiro motioned for Kai to follow him out, and without a word Kai obeyed, his shoulder brushing against Hiro's a bit forcefully as he passed by him.

"Thanks guys." Ray called before his door closed, and Hiro simply nodded to him as he shut it quietly. He turned to confront Kai about his actions, but the Russian's door was slammed in his face as his mouth started to open.

With a puff of air Hiro shook his head as he started back down the hallway, to get onto his younger brother about needing to rest. When he came back down the stairs Tyson was still busy decorating the tree, with the enthusiasm he had before setting the tree up. Upon seeing how Tyson was faring better than the others, Hiro didn't bother and went about helping him instead quietly.

"Thanks for the help bro." Tyson said as he placed the now empty boxes in the corner of the living room, having finished decorating the tree completely.

"What was Ray thinking, having you all do this?" Hiro sighed out, taking a seat on the armchair opposite of the room from the tree.

"He just doesn't like sitting still for too long, should have heard Kai yelling at him this morning." Tyson chuckled, sprawling himself along the cushions of the couch.

"Are they?" Hiro asked, raising an eyebrow to his brother. Hoping his subtle hint would be able to pass through his younger brother's thick skull, his hope washed away when Tyson just stared at him blinking in confusion.

"Are they what?" Tyson asked, still blinking and wiping the new trail of snot from under his nose.

Hiro sighed, shaking his head a bit. "You know… Like you and Max?" He didn't feel comfortable just blurting out his question, unable to tell when either two teens might walk down at any minute.

"Like me and Max?" Tyson mumbled to himself, resting his hand under his chin as he seemed to be in thought. "Oh!" His eyes grew wide. "You're kidding right?!" Tyson blurt out, unable to stop the fit of laughter that came out of his mouth.

Hiro seemed to deflate into the back of the armchair, that was all he needed from his younger brother to understand. Though Tyson didn't realize, and he continued to laugh, trying to speak through his fit.

"Oh, that's rich Hiro! No… Ha! Why would you think that, HA HA HA!" Tyson belted out, tears running down his cheeks.

"It was just a question Tyson." Hiro sneered out, his eyes narrowing at his brother. "I was just curious, that's all."

"Why? You got something for Kai?" Tyson asked, and noticed the quick disgust look that crossed Hiro's face. "Oh, so it's Ray hu?" Tyson wiped his cheeks, sitting up against the back of the couch to face his brother more properly.

"Don't you dare say a word." Hiro scorned, eyes boring down at Tyson.

Tyson waved his hands in front of him, a sloppy grin across his face. "Don't worry about it bro, I won't. But don't hold out too much hope there, Ray's with Mariah."

"Who's with Mariah?" Kai's voice broke in, as he came down the stairs. His hair a bit more disheveled than what it had been, shirtless and scarfless as he came down the stairs. Only having come down the stairs at the last bit of the conversation, though when he heard the pinkett's name it had piqued his curiosity; if only slightly.

"Apparently Ray is." Hiro huffed out, rubbing the side of his head as if he had a headache. Only to hide his own disappointment at the new revelation his brother had bestowed upon him, Kai snorted and drew their attention back to him.

"No, he isn't." Kai could have laughed at the sudden change of Hiro's face, already guessing what the Granger's could have been talking about and another swell of anger swirled in his stomach.

Tyson blinked at him, having to shift around to face Kai behind him. "How do you know?"

"One, he would have told us. Two, how many times has he called Mariah his sister? Not many people say that, and don't mean it. So, if they were together he wouldn't call her his sister, now would he?" Becoming bored and not really waiting to see Hiro's expression, he walked towards the kitchen without another word.

"Well, never mind then Hiro. Guess you do have a shot." Tyson said as he spun back around to face his brother.

Hiro went to respond, his mouth had opened to do say something, but his words were cut short when the sound of glass shattered in the kitchen. "KON! YOU SHOULD BE IN BED!" Came Kai's outraged voice, both Granger brothers jumped up from their spots and dashed into the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen Kai was holding onto Ray, slumped in his arms with the glass from his cup shattered on the floor around their feet. Ray's face more flushed from his fever than he was blushing as his bare skin was brushing against Kai's own.

"How did you two not notice him in here?!" Kai barked out, his attention turning to the two who stopped in the doorway. Tyson's mouth hanging open as Hiro's eyes were just as wide, staring at the scene before them.

"He must have been too quiet for us to hear, he is a neko-jin after all." Tyson said, stumbling around his words a bit.

"He's burning up, he needs a cold bath- NOW!" Kai's anger turned to Tyson, and Tyson obeyed by running out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Stop yelling…" Ray moaned, trying to pull himself out of Kai's hold. "You scared me, that's all." He sighed out, his legs swaying under him as he tried to stand on his own.

"How could I have scared you? You always hear us when we come into a room." Kai asked, keeping his arms held out to catch Ray incase he were to fall again.

"It's the illness, it must be messing with his senses." Hiro offered, practically pushing past Kai to grab hold of Ray. "C'mon, we need to get you in the bath now." He coaxed, Ray tried to pull back and shook his head.

"Call the White Tigers." He mumbled, reaching out for the counter on his right to steady his stance. "They'll have something there to help me." As soon as his words passed his lips, his legs gave out and Kai caught him after shoving past Hiro again.

Hiro glared down at Kai, the neko-jin wrapped securely in his pale arms. Kai shot Hiro with his own cold hard glare, daring him to protest. Hiro didn't say anything, instead he went to the phone on the other side of the kitchen to call Lee back at Ray's village. Kai took that as his cue to haul Ray back up the stairs to the bathroom, making sure to hold Ray in his arms a bit more comfortably for both of them.

"Bath's all ready Kai." Tyson said, stepping out of the way as Kai pushed past him and kicked the door to the bathroom closed behind him. "You're welcome." Tyson pouted, heading down to Max's room.

Back in the bathroom Kai just stood there, Ray still in his arms as he could feel their body heat combining and causing sweat to form where their bare skins met. Unsure of what to do he gently shook his arms a bit, trying to bring Ray back to consciousness.

"Hmm? What?" Ray mumbled out, his head searing with a terrible headache.

"Can you get in the tub yourself?" Kai asked, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.

Ray's eyes shot open and he strained his neck to look around him, swallowing hard he nodded. Kai gently put him down on his feet, but stayed back a bit to make sure Ray didn't collapse again.

"I got it now, thanks Kai." Ray said, not turning around.

Kai nodded and left him there, closing the door gently and leaned against the back of the wall next to the bathroom door. Sinking down to the floor, trying to still his beating heart in his chest. Trying to play it off that it was his sickness that was causing him to act this way, and that he had the natural instinct to take care of the others since he was the oldest.

As if to remind him that he wasn't the oldest any longer, Hiro walked up the stairs and stopped just a few inches away from where Kai was sitting against the wall. Not bothering to look at him, Kai crossed his arms across his burning chest as he wheezed through his nose as he breathed. It was as if he had the lungs of a chronic smoker, the way his lungs rattled in his chest.

"Lee said they're on their way now, they're pretty much for taking him back with them. Said that our kind of medicines aren't going to work for him, just that they'll make him worse. Or something like that, was kind of hard to hear over Mariah's shouting." Hiro rolled his eyes, remembering the phone conversation he tried to have with Lee as he leaned against the wall across from Kai crossing his own arms over his chest.

Kai slightly smirked, glad that he hadn't been the one to have to call Ray's old team and give them the news. "Our medicine is fine, it's not like this is the first time he's ever been sick." Kai huffed out, his muscles had tensed when Hiro had told him of the White Tiger's plans on taking Ray.

Though he mentally wished they would try, he'd fight them all if it meant making sure Ray stayed there with them all. Even if they wanted to drag Ray back to China, he was too sick to get on a plane in the first place.

"That's just what they told me, obviously he can't even leave though." Hiro's own muscles relaxed a bit more, having the same thoughts cross through his mind that Kai had. Kai simply nodded, and stood when he could hear Ray in the bathroom. Hiro peeled his back away from the wall, stepping the small space and pushing past Kai once more.

"You still need to rest, you keep over exerting yourself." Kai gave him a stern look, though like before it didn't faze the older Granger. "Don't make me force you." Hiro said sternly, only getting an eyeroll as a response before Kai turned away and went to his own room.


	3. Santa's Little Helpers

**Author's Note:**

 **Thank you already Guest for posting a review the second I posted the second chapter.  
I honestly still don't know what I'm doing with this, but to catch us up to still have the fic and Christmas Line up I'm posting the chapters as quickly as I can.  
Thank you to those who were interested in this, and hopefully I don't disappoint you with how this may wind up, since I still have no idea what it is I'm doing. **

**Yes, this is Yaoi, just incase that wasn't obvious.**

 **Enjoy the show!**

* * *

 **December 20** **th**

Hiro walked down the stairs coming from his room, rubbing the side of his head as he could feel a new headache coming on. Ray had been knocked out cold a few hours after waking the day before thanks to the new medicine Grandpa Granger had brought home. Thankful that the neko-jin hadn't woken up since, Hiro sighed out as he reached the living room.

Just as Hiro settled into the armchair in the living room, having made it to the kitchen for a cup of warm honey and lemon tea, his muscles slightly relaxing as all was quiet, there came an obnoxious banging on the front door of the house. With an irritable sigh Hiro sat his mug on the coffee table in front of him, groaning as the banging continued, getting louder with more force behind the person's fist.

"Hold on!" Hiro barked out, his nerves being put on edge since he had arrived causing him to snap, but the person on the other side was persistent and continued to bang on the door until Hiro jerked it open.

"Where is he? Where is my Ray?!" Mariah all but wailed out, rushing past Hiro into the house as if she owned the place and he wasn't even there to begin with.

Lee and the other two came in a bit more humbly, mumbling his apologies to Hiro for his sister's rudeness as he stepped inside the house. Gary dropped their bags by the door as Hiro closed it behind them all, once they had entered the center of the living room a bit more.

"He's in his room, asleep." Hiro rolled his eyes, not caring if he was acting out of character at the moment, it was after all only six in the morning. "No ones awake yet." He didn't bother looking back at them as he went for his tea and armchair.

Mariah whipped around on her heel to head for the stairs, only to be stopped by Lee's hand grabbing her shoulder. "Leave him be right now Mariah, let the others sleep before you wake the whole house." He hissed to her, and her face turned red with anger.

"We came here to make sure he was better!" She cried out, jerking her shoulder out from under Lee's hold.

"With you shouting no ones going to get better." They all froze, Mariah almost running and smacking into Kai's chest as he had come down the stairs as she headed for them again. "And who the hell was banging on the damn door?" He sneered, holding his own head in his hands.

His hair was a mess, his skin slightly damp from having sweat all night and he had dark circles under his eyes. He had been too tired to care now to keep up appearances, he could careless if anyone saw him this way since his body was just too sore. He hadn't even bothered to properly dress, staying in his sleeping shorts, as he had become too angry at the banging on the door that happened to be directly under his window.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Mariah asked, her yellow eyes narrowing as she eyed him, having to take a step back from him.

Kai pulled his hand away from his face, looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time and he scowled back. "I live here?" He growled out. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I called them yesterday, remember?" Hiro huffed out from the safety of his armchair. "They brought some medicine for Ray."

"And we're bringing him home!" Mariah cut in, looking rather proud of herself even if the other's in the room just shook their heads.

"He can't go anywhere, he's too sick." Hiro kept shaking his head, sipping his tea.

Mariah rolled her eyes, her back to Hiro so he missed the display though Kai saw, and he ground his teeth together. "That's what the medicine is for, once he's a bit better we're taking him home." She said, placing her hands on her hips as if challenging one of them to protest.

Lee finally stepped up, noticing the scowling Russian shooting daggers with his eyes at his baby sister. "That's if Ray wants to come home, Mariah. For now, we should go and rest ourselves." He said in his normal tone, trying to be the voice of reason before the rest of the house woke up.

Kai rolled his eyes, walking away as he was done entertaining them and went to the kitchen for some coffee, or anything to help his burning throat. Seeing Kai's retreating form, Mariah smirked to herself thinking herself victorious against the Russian. Since she had no more reason to be standing there she followed Lee towards the others, who had already made themselves comfortable on the couches around Hiro. Kevin had already fallen asleep against Gary's side; the flight had been harsh on him from having to leave as soon as Lee had gotten off the phone with Hiro the day before.

Lee and Mariah took the second couch, across from Hiro in the living room. Lee's back muscles relaxed as much as they could, he and the other boys wouldn't have cared when they had left but their pleas to wait till later to come only fell on Mariah's stubborn ears. She had been the one to drag them all away as soon as she could, making sure to have contacted Mr. Dickenson for the tickets to Japan.

"Sorry about this Hiro." Lee sighed out, only getting a nod as recognition for his words from the older Granger brother as he sipped the last of his tea.

"It's fine, Tyson and Max should be up soon enough. Tyson seems to be getting over his cold, while Max should be just as well. Ray was the last one to have gotten sick, and since he's been treating the others and not resting his cold might last longer." Hiro explained, setting his empty mug on the coffee table in front of him before crossing his right leg over his left as he rested a bit more into the armchair.

"That's typical of Ray." Lee rolled his eyes, though he had a slight smirk on his lips. "When he wakes up, we'll be sure to give him the medicine we brought. It should clear up anything he has, we have some extra for the others if you want to give it to them." Lee offered, and Hiro thought it over.

Surely it wouldn't hurt for Tyson to have some, even if he was about over his cold it may help speed the process up. Max surely could use it, since he was more than likely to be sleeping the entire time until his cold passed. Kai was a different story, he may refuse any and all help from the White Tiger's unless someone forced the medicine down his throat and Hiro wasn't about to get that close to him.

"Thank you, I'm sure Tyson and Max would greatly appreciate it." Hiro smiled, it was small but now as the tension that had been in the air earlier died away he was coming back to his usual self.

Lee only nodded, having the same thoughts as Hiro passing through his head about each boy and knew that the only one to get Kai to take the medicine they brought was probably if Ray gave it to him. He had that way with people, either by persuasion or just tricking the other person into doing what he wanted, and Lee already decided it was best to leave it to Ray.

"So, I've been meaning to ask… Who set up the tree?" Lee cocked an eyebrow, having slightly turned to look at the Christmas tree behind him for a moment and back to Hiro.

"Ray's idea, but Tyson and I decorated it in the end." Lee laughed softly, of course it was Ray's idea to do something other than sleep off his sickness.

"As stubborn as always." Lee mumbled.

"You're one to talk." Everyone's heads snapped towards the stairwell, eyes going slightly wide until they turned to normal and smiles placed on their lips. "Hey guys." Ray gave them a weak wave, yawning through his words as he shuffled over to the back of the couch Gary and Kevin were occupying.

"How are you feeling?" Hiro asked, turning his attention to Ray.

Once again, his hair was only pulled back in a loose pony tail at the nape of his neck, instead of being shirtless he wore a loose red tank-top and his still too long pants that dragged under his feet. Ray shrugged a bit, only glancing at Hiro to let him know he acknowledged him sitting there before turning back to his ex-teammates.

"You all got here pretty early, didn't you?" He slightly chuckled, leaning against the back of the couch on Gary's right.

"Too early." Kai mumbled as he walked back through the living room to the stairwell, steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a plate of toast in the other.

Ray just shook his head a bit having to regain his composure after his back had tensed upon hearing Kai's voice, but nobody said anything back to him as he disappeared up the stairs. Mariah had eyed his back, narrowing her eyes at him and growled under her breath. Lee avoided rolling his eyes and stood, going around the couch to Ray's side.

"Here, this should help you guys." He dug in his pocket, producing a small green silk sac that was tied with a small white string and placed it in Ray's open palm. "You remember how to make it?"

"Of course." Ray nodded, taking the sac with him as he went towards the kitchen as Lee followed him. "Please don't start babying me too." Ray chuckled out, once they were inside the privacy of the kitchen.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Lee shot back playfully, setting himself down on the counter top beside the stove as Ray went about gathering a small cooking pot and filling it with water. "Figured you'd be better suited to give it to Kai than any of us." Lee said a bit offhandedly, having been the only one to notice the change in Ray's body when said Russian had come and gone only a few seconds prior.

Ray gave a nervous chuckle through his frown, but he nodded all the same as he placed the pot over the burner on the stove and turned it on and stepped back to wait for it to boil.

"Something happen?" Lee asked, once again noticing the way Ray's body tensed.

Ray shook his head, his bangs swaying in his eyes at the motion. "No." He said rather forcefully, and now it was Lee's turn to frown.

"Ray…" He threatened, eyes locking onto Ray's.

"Don't worry about it Lee, it's nothing." Ray waved him off, dumping the contents of the sac into the boiling water and gave it slight stir.

The water turned into a milky white color, blending and bubbling with the water as he turned the heat down to a low simmer. Lee sighed rather loudly, and Ray chose to ignore it.

"Mariah wants you to come back, but that's up to you." Lee broke through Ray's thoughts, and they both looked at each other for a moment.

Ray nodded, before he was sick he was going to go home but now he felt like staying and enjoying Christmas with the Bladebreakers. He was certain that after giving his teammates the medicine the White Tigers brought, they'd all be able to actually enjoy the holiday a bit more. In fact, it would be the first Christmas any of them had even spent together as an actual team and Ray was slightly looking forward to it.

"If it's alright with you I'm staying." Ray spoke up, breaking the silence that had found them, and Lee nodded with a small smile on his lips.

"I figured you'd say that." Lee paused, his small smile turning into a frown again. "Mariah won't be happy." It was Ray's turn to frown at that, but he just shrugged.

"You all can probably stay, I can talk to Hiro and Grandpa about it. There's plenty of room."

"We don't want to be a burden on you guys." Lee protested, though he knew he liked the idea of spending Christmas with his best friend again.

"Don't worry about it, I'll talk to Hiro about it after I finish this." Ray said as he pulled the pot off the counter, pouring the milky substance into four mugs Lee had brought down from the cupboard for him. "Better give this to the children now, see you in bit Lee." With that Ray took the mugs, two in each hand, and started out of the kitchen.

"Children?" He could hear Lee mumbled in confusion as he left, chuckling to himself all the same as he shook his head.

Upstairs he came to Max's room first, already hearing him and Tyson talking and giggling quietly behind the closed door he tapped his foot against the wood and waited until Tyson answered it.

"Oh, morning Ray." Tyson smiled, and it reached his ears. "What's that? It stinks." His nose curled the second the smell reached him, and he backed away pinching his nose closed.

"It'll help you guys quicker, just take it." Ray shoved the two mugs in his right hand out to the two boys, Max having dragged himself beside Tyson in the doorway.

"What is this made of?!" Tyson whined out, taking the mug that was forcefully placed in his hand while the other still clenched his nose shut.

"It's just a mixture of herbs from my village, Lee and the others brought it." Ray sighed out, Tyson and Max's eyes went wide a bit.

"Lee's here?" Tyson asked, for a brief second forgetting about the foul-smelling liquid in his hand. Ray nodded to him and then narrowed his eyes, glancing down at the cup and back into Tyson's eyes.

"Don't make me pour it down your throat Ty." Ray threatened, trying to stand a bit taller to make himself look imposing.

Tyson turned to Max a bit nervously, Max shrugged and pulled his own mug up to his lips and winced at the smell. "Bottoms up." Tyson mumbled, downing the liquid in one go. "Hey… It doesn't taste so bad." Tyson said, smacking and licking his lips.

"There was like a hint of lavender, right Ray?" Max turned to him, having taken his time with drinking the medicine.

"That's one of the ingredients, yeah." Ray went to turn on his heel, to head down to Kai's room at the end of the hall. "Hiro's downstairs with the others, I'll be there in a minute."

Ray stopped at the closed door down the hall, swallowing hard even though it hurt to do so before he gently tapped on the door. There was the sound of feet shuffling behind the closed door, till Kai cracked it slightly. Upon seeing Ray, he opened it a bit more and it didn't take long before he saw the nervousness on the neko-jin's face.

"Here, it'll help." Ray shoved the mug in his left hand out, trying to keep it from trembling in his grasp. "It smells bad, but it doesn't taste how it smells." He quickly added, seeing the way Kai's face had scrunched slightly.

Kai only nodded and took the mug, trying to hide his displeasure at the smell but chugged the drink down all the same. Ray followed suit, and waited for Kai to hand his mug back as he held out his hand.

"Alright Kon, what the hell is wrong?" Kai asked, crossing his arms over his chest, mug still in his hold.

"Nothing, why would you think that?" Ray asked a bit too quickly, and mentally slapped himself for once again being so careless. Silently he prayed someone would come up and divert the attention to something else, and as if his prayers had been answered Mariah came bounding down the hall towards them. Not his first choice, but it would have to do.

"There you are Ray!" She shouted and picked up her pace, only stopping short when she caught sight of Kai.

It was no surprise she disliked the Russian, after having stolen everyone's bitbeast in the first worlds and then his attitude he had about everyone annoyed her. She didn't understand why the other's bothered to keep him around when it was clear he'd rather be elsewhere, but it wasn't her place to say such things and even though she didn't have much, she did have some tact and manners.

"Oh, hey Mariah." Ray smiled warmly to her, slightly turning to face the girl just so he wouldn't have to keep looking at Kai.

"Lee just told me that you're going to talk to Hiro about us staying here? I thought you'd want to go home and spend Christmas with us?" She all but whined out at him, pouting her bottom lip out a bit for extra emphasis.

"Well, I wanted to at first, but it just seems easier to stay." Ray shrugged, but still noticed the way Kai tensed beside him.

There weren't many people Kai liked to begin with, but next to Tyson on the bottom of the totem pole was the pink haired neko-jin. To Kai, she was too loud and boisterous, always clinging to Ray like a lost child and it was sickening to watch. Mariah was too cocky and never knew when to keep her mouth shut, always coming in at the wrong times, like now, and he couldn't stand the sight of all that pink. Everyone had their own color scheme it seemed to him, but she could have at least thrown in another color somewhere in her wardrobe at some point.

Mariah reached out and grabbed Ray's hand, making sure to lace her fingers through his and he didn't protest which caused another flit of anger in Kai's stomach.

"Well, let's go see what he has to say!" She cheered happily and started dragging Ray away down the hall, Kai just scowled at the back of the pink pony tail and slammed his door shut.

Downstairs the other two members of the Bladebreakers were sitting on the couch Lee and Mariah had previously occupied when they first arrived. Max looked more put together, the medicine Ray had given him was quick and he didn't look like he was ready to pass out at any second. Tyson, having already been coming off his illness, sat there talking with the others with a smile on his face. Leave it to him to keep up his friendly attitude even if he was slightly confused as to why everyone was in his home, though he honestly didn't care since he liked the company.

Hiro's eyes shifted to Ray and Mariah's hands, still locked even though they had made it downstairs and he wondered if what Kai had said was even true. It sure didn't look like it, and Hiro grumbled quietly to himself. The talking kept on, even when the other two had come down as if they weren't even there and Ray went to sit next to Max, having to almost pry his fingers out of Mariah's hold since there was only one seat left on that couch. With another pout Mariah went over to the couch with her team, Gary having to pick up Kevin to make room and held the smallest neko-jin in the fold of his large arms letting him sleep off the jet-lag.

"So, you already know Hiro?" Ray asked, trying to swallow his nervousness.

He wasn't sure how he and Hiro were going to talk about what he had learned the night before, but if anything, he knew Hiro wasn't going to say anything with everyone else around them.

"I don't mind it Ray, it sounds like my dad won't be coming after all and Gramps is actually heading out tonight to meet him in Australia." Hiro waved his hand about, just glad that Ray had distanced himself from Mariah. To say he was confused was an understatement, his mind was spinning in circles now unsure of what actually was going on between the two.

"Is that alright with you guys?" Ray turned to his two teammates, it was only fair he asked them as well since they were staying too, and it was Tyson's house.

"Hey, I don't mind. We can split up some of the rooms so there's enough space. You and Lee can stay in your room, and Kevin and Gary can have mine since I'll just bunk with Max. Mariah can have the spare room nears Hiro's room, since it's hardly used anyways." Tyson said, resting his hands behind his head as he slumped into the back of the couch.

"That's fine with me Tyson." Lee nodded his approval, his arms crossed over his chest, but his shoulders were slacked. "We can stay till the holidays are over and go from there, about what to do." He eyed Ray a bit, trying to get his point across that he needed to come back with them at some point.

Ray seemed oblivious to it and sighed out a breath of air, it was now or never so he stood drawing everyone's attention to him. Ignoring the questioning looks he met Hiro's eyes with his.

"Can we talk?" He didn't wait for Hiro to respond, and started to the stairs. "In private, everybody stays down here." Ray's voice gave no one room to protest, but Tyson wore a cheeky smile on his lips.

Hiro ignored the look Tyson was trying to give him, rolling his eyes he followed Ray up the stairs to his room down the hall. As they walked Kai had stepped out of the bathroom, fresh from a shower and done up in his usual attire, blue face paint and all. He cocked an eyebrow at the two, though neither three said a word till Ray stopped abruptly.

"Kai, come." He called as if the Russian were a dog, Kai scowled at him narrowing his eyes.

The things he could have said to the neko-jin never passed his lips though, an uneasy feeling was sinking into his stomach that something was wrong, and he followed the other two into Hiro's room, closing the door behind him gently. He leaned against it, his damp towel hung around his neck as his make-shift scarf until he could grab it from his room. Crossing his arms, he waited, keeping his eyes open to watch the other two. Ray paced a bit in the center of Hiro's room, Hiro on the other hand took a seat at the chair by his desk in the corner of the room.

"The others are staying with us." Ray began, and Kai's back seemed to tense once more. "No ones is going to room with you, but after Christmas they'll be going home I promise."

"I already said they could, it is my house after all." Hiro cut in quickly, making sure to narrow his eyes at the crimson eyed teen.

Kai opened his mouth to say something, whether it was a sarcastic remark or not no one would know since Tyson's screams echoed throughout the house. All three boys jumped slightly at the sound, and Kai pulled the door back quickly and was about to dash down the hall to find out what was going on when they could hear Tyson exclaim loudly.

"TALA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"


	4. Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

**Thank you all to those who have come back to this even after I said I was done with it. For those who were able to read chapter 2 of the last time I posted this, you will notice I cut out the Hiro and Kai thing. I didn't feel it fit, wasn't something I wanted to explore all that much, and so I did my best to cut it out of the third chapter, so if you see something hinting at it, just ignore it.**

 **As far as this chapter, it was never properly posted, and so here you go. Enjoy the show and Merry Christmas! I will make sure, somehow, that this fic gets the dates lined right.**

 **Ch 4- Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, Tala La La La**

* * *

 **December 20** **th**

 **"** TALA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

Kai's entire body stiffened, the hand that held onto the wooden door to Hiro's room clenched tighter and he ground his teeth. Ray and Hiro just managed to exchanged questioning looks to one another, and when Kai regained his bearings they followed the still stiff Russian down the hall. Hiro grumbling under his breath, this was perfect and just what he needed; NOT!

Already the house was crammed head to toe, and with his grandfather leaving that left him the oldest amongst the others in the house and that wasn't something he wanted, nor needed, on his shoulders. To say his nerves were on their breaking point would be an understatement, they had already snapped, twice over in fact.

Ray was quiet, his eyes focused on Kai's back as they made their way down the hall to the stairs that would lead them to where the others were. He could hear the conversation, though as his mind drifted he blocked it all out. Secretly he adverted his gaze from the light-blue haired man beside him to the two-toned haired one in front of him, knowing Kai of all people would not be happy about a house full of others.

The three stopped at the stairwell, to Ray it seemed it took them ages just to cross the hallway. Kai once again was frozen at the top of the stairs, his hands visibly shaking at his sides as they were still tightly clenched. Like Hiro, Kai's nerves had snapped twice over and were about to do it again. Already he had had a shitty two weeks with the others sick, then Hiro shows up and the White Tigers shortly after. If December was trying to be the month that broke him, it was doing a damn good job at it now since his lunatic of a best friend decided to show up out of nowhere, and he wasn't alone.

Descending the stairs Kai went first, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned on his normal façade and stood beside the red-haired teen. The other two that had been behind him came after, Hiro going over to calm his hysterical younger brother as Ray decided to sit on the last step. There he had the best view of the action, not to mention he was still in his sleeping clothes and wasn't very put together like the others of his team.

Tala greeted Kai in Russian, Bryan had placed himself on the armchair Hiro had been occupying before, in a glaring match with Mariah across on the chair Ray had been sitting with Tyson and Max. Max wasn't in the room and Ray could hear him in the kitchen, Lee was standing on the wall next to the stairs on Ray's right. His arms were crossed, and his eyes closed, as if he was trying to avoid looking at the two newcomers. Tyson was in the middle of the living room, Hiro beside him, as he looked rather dumbfounded at their new guests.

"Care to explain this, Tala?" Hiro questioned, after making sure Tyson wasn't going to die from a heart attack.

Tala stopped the quiet conversation he was having with Kai beside him, turning his head around so he could face Hiro. "Kai couldn't come see us, so we came to see him." Tala explained rather plainly, there was no malice or threatening tone in his voice and his face even looked softer than usual.

After a moment of silence and Hiro looking from Tala to Bryan he spoke up. "And you didn't think to ask one of us?" Hiro's voice on the other hand, did have a threatening tone to it.

"Why would I do that?" Tala cocked one of his thin red eyebrows at the older Granger brother.

"It's my house?" Hiro asked, sarcasm laced in his tone.

"And Kai lives here, and he helps pay most of the bills." Tala blinked a bit in surprise, everyone who hadn't been paying attention to him now were with questioning looks.

"You do know, that everyone that lives here is sick, right?" Hiro bit out.

"Tyson seems to be doing fine." Tala shrugged, then glanced at Kai for a second.

"Kai looks normal too." He said, and looked a little past Kai to Ray on the stairs.

"Can't say the same about the cat though." Ray bristled slightly, and he narrowed his eyes, though Tala had already turned back to face Hiro and didn't see it.

"We'll be out of your hair at the end of the holidays." Tala waved once more at the elder Granger.

"We should all be fine by tomorrow anyways Hiro." Ray piped up from his seat on the stairs.

"Fine… Guess you'll have to share your room now Kai." Hiro sighed out, retreating back to the kitchen for another cup of tea and honey.

"Perfect!" Tala clapped his hands together excitedly. "First, we should fix that tree over there. Who on earth put it together, it looks like an elf threw up on it." He cringed, glancing at the tree in the corner of the living room.

"Hey! I worked really hard on that!" Tyson shouted, his face beaming bright red. The others in the room snickering behind their hands.

"That explains it then." Tala rolled his eyes. "We'll get proper decorations tomorrow then when you're all feeling better."

The other teens groaned out, Kai's headache coming in tenfold now as he headed for the stairs. Ray jumped up to make way, watching Kai's retreating back until he could no longer see him. When he turned back around he came face to face with crystal blue eyes, and he bit down on his lip to keep from screaming.

"You're the only one here that really knows how to cook, so you and I will be making the shopping list for dinner." Tala said, straightening himself back out of Ray's face, a playful smirk crossing his lips when he saw how flustered Ray had become.

"S… Sure." Ray nodded.

Lee stepped up, his back rigid as if he was about to fight someone. "Hold on a second, what makes you have any right to just come in here and start demanding things?"

Tala blinked a few times, his smirk still on his pale thin lips. "Me? Well let's see, I'm the oldest. I'm the smartest. The best looking here. And I know how to actually have a decent Christmas." He rolled off, watching the lion fume. "Somebodies gotta do it."

"Alright, alright. That's enough Lee." Ray cut in, watching his best friends face turn all different shades of red and blue as he held in his breath from anger, about to explode at any second. "How bout you and I go make that list then?" Ray said turning to the red-head.

Tala eyed him up and down. "Might want to change first." He snickered, watching Ray's face flush once more.

"Right." Ray nodded and stiffly walked up the stairs behind him, aware that the others were all watching his back.

He had made it to his door just when Kai's opened beside his, he paused and gave him a small smile, obviously not getting one in return.

"Ray." Kai called, causing the neko-jin to pause halfway in his doorway. "You and I are going to room, if Tala stays in mine I'm never going to get any sleep." Kai finished.

"Are you sure? Lee's supposed to be rooming with me, are you alright with that?"

Kai seemed to think it over, then nodded his answer before retreating back down stairs with the others. Having finally put on his white scarf and blue face paint, the scarf trailing behind his back in the slight wind he created with his walking. Ray sighed before stepping into his room, already his body was feeling better from the medicine the others had brought for him and he knew the others would soon be feeling the effects of it. He mentally slapped himself, he should have called the White Tigers up the second they all fell ill, then they wouldn't be in this mess with everyone camping at the Granger's house. Then again, if he had done that he wouldn't get to see the faces of his teammates when they opened the gifts he got them all.

With a bounce in his step he made himself more presentable, actually brushing his knee length hair and wrapping it in his signature white wrap, leaving the ends sticking out. Placing his red head band around his brow, he glanced at his reflection and gave himself a toothy grin.

Even if the house was packed to the brim with everyone else, he was happy to have his teammates and close childhood friends with him there. Now, as the proclaimed 'mother' of the house, he went down stairs to start putting Tala's plans for an actual Christmas dinner to play.

* * *

 **December 21** **st**

"We don't need _that_ big of a turkey Tala." Ray sighed out as he watched the wolf toy with the frozen bird in his hands, juggling the monstrous beast from one hand to the other as if it were a bean bag.

"You do realize who you live with, right?" Tala asked with a raised brow, holding the turkey still for a second before checking the price. "And it's not that bad of a price for this size."

"Alright, only if you're buying it. I'll get the other odds and ends then." Ray sighed, watching Tala place the turkey into the cart like it was an infant. "Should have brought a blanket and pacifier." Ray snickered, causing Tala to smirk.

"We should find Bryan now, before he gets himself kicked out." Tala said, patting the bird in the cart. "Now you lay there like the good lil dead bird you are, Daddy loves you." He cooed, causing Ray to let out a laugh.

"Really Tala?" Ray laughed, shaking his head. "Alright, lets go find your psycho lover." Ray said as he started pushing the cart, Tala coming up beside him and entwining his arm around Ray's. "Um… Tala?"

"What, I'm just walking with the mother of my bird baby." Tala snickered, causing Ray's face to redden. "And, Bryan and I are NOT lovers." He warned, though in his stern tone there was a slight hurt undertone within his words.

"Oh… I just thought… Sorry, it's not my business." Ray said quickly, adverting his gaze from the red-head who was still clutched to his arm like a life-line.

"Hey, it's alright." Tala shrugged, guiding Ray down the canned aisle, where at the end was Bryan and Kai. "Did you two find what I asked for?" Tala asked as he and Ray paused ahead of them.

"I think so?" Bryan said, examining a can in his hands. "Did you want fat free or less sodium?" He smirked. "Wouldn't hurt to get the fat free one." He said as he eyed his captain.

Tala's face turned as red as his hair, snatching the can from Bryan's grasp. "If I wasn't in such a happy mood I'd dent your head in with this!" He sneered, tossing the can into the basket of his cart. "C'mon we still need to get the stuffing for the bird." He said and marched past the other two Russians.

Ray started behind him, suppressing his laughter as he went, the other two coming behind him. "Have you guys seen the others? It's rather quite in here."

"Tyson was kicked out because he wouldn't stop taking the free samples of ham. Max went with him, and Hiro's busy smoothing out the issue with the manager." Bryan answered.

"Ugh… Can't take these kids anywhere." Ray laughed, watching Kai's mask crack as a faint smile came to his lips.

"It was your idea to bring them with us."

"Maybe you should have been watching _your_ children better." Ray said back, his tone hinting on playful. Bryan just looked back between the two, obviously missing something.

" _You're_ the mother." Kai answered back coolly. "You should have brought the leashes."

"I thought you did." Ray shrugged, catching up to Tala in the bread aisle, leaving the other two behind him. Kai still with the faint smile to his lips, and Bryan looking completely lost about just what had happened.

"What was that all about?" He whispered to the other teen.

Kai shrugged. "Just a stupid joke the others came up with."

"And you're playing along?" Bryan asked.

Kai shrugged again as he met up with the other two, in quiet conversation about which stuffing would be best for the giant bird Tala had procured from the freezer aisle.

"We only need one bag Tala." Ray sighed, trying to snatch the third bag out of the red-head's hands.

"Ray, that's a big ass bird. We need at least four."

"No, I can't afford four and everything else we still need to get. Put those back." Ray said, reaching for the bags once more.

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of everything." Tala said, tossing the bags over Ray's head where they landed in the cart perfectly over the turkey. "I didn't say you had to buy anything."

"Are you sure? You realize you're about to feed an army, and I'm just talking about Tyson."

"And that's why we have Turkeyzilla there." Tala said, nodding to the frozen bird in the cart. "What's next on the list?" He clapped his hands together, Kai pulled the list from his pocket and handed it over to Tala. "Perfect, to the produce men!" He called out, thrusting his arm out ahead of him.

"Why is he acting like this?" Ray asked in a low whisper to Kai as soon as Tala was down the aisle and far enough not to hear him.

Kai shrugged once more. "He hasn't really done Christmas before, being in the Abbey and all."

"Oh…" Ray mumbled, pushing the cart along after the wolf who was already out in the open from the aisle.

The four boys wandered a bit, Tala checking his list several times over till they had made four laps around the entire grocery store and pulled up their full cart to an open register. Ray helped Tala load the belt, letting Tala pull out Turkeyzilla, deeming it too big for him to even get his arms around and watched as the belt stuttered and stopped altogether from the weight of the bird.

"I don't even think it's going to fit in the oven." Ray mumbled under his breath as the cashier scanned the bird with her scanner wand, watching Tala effortlessly settle the bird back into the basket.

The total came up, Ray and his wallet were more than thankful when Tala paid for everything, pushing the cart behind the redhead where they stepped outside where the others were outside waiting. Max was busy playing in the snow that had begun to settle on the sidewalk, while Tyson and Hiro were in an argument in Japanese, more or less to do with Tyson being kicked out.

"We're ready to go now Hiro." Ray called out, effectively breaking the two brother's arguments.

"Gee guys, you were in there forever." Tyson whined out.

"We would have been out sooner if you hadn't gotten kicked out." Ray said sternly. "Lets just get home, my feet are killing me now." He huffed out.

"They should be, you were in there forever!" Tyson repeated again, as if the others hadn't heard him before.

"Tyson, just get going!" Kai barked out, ignoring the pointed stare from Hiro for having yelled at his younger brother.

"Fine." Tyson sighed, holding Max's hand as he came bounding up beside him, heading to the Granger Mobile, the great big ugly brown mini-van grandpa had to buy in order to fit their team into.

Hiro crawled into the driver's seat, letting the others sort out packing the groceries away. "Ray, you said your feet were hurting, get inside. I still don't think you should be up right now." He called over his shoulder, looking into the rear-view mirror.

Ray looked between Bryan and Tala who just shooed him away, packing the groceries into the hatch of the van. Ray gave them an apologetic smile, climbing into the passenger seat beside Hiro.

"I told you I'm fine Hiro." Ray mumbled after buckling himself in.

Hiro opened his mouth to speak when the hatch of the van was slammed, shaking the vehicle violently. The three Russians gathering in the back row, where Max and Tyson had taken up the two captain chairs in the second row.

"Great, next time make sure it actually breaks." Hiro mumbled, causing Ray to snicker into the back of his hand.

"Do you think the others actually got what we asked them?" Tala asked out of the blue as the van started to pull away from the parking lot.

"Only one way to tell." Ray said over his shoulder, turning slightly around in his seat to face the other boys. "I would hope so, I mean we did send Kenny and Hilary with them after all." He said, grinning with his canines pointing over his upper lip.

Tala seemed to accept Ray's words as he nodded his head, trying to uncramp himself between the other two teens beside him. The van rolled out onto the road slowly, everyone going quiet and it wasn't until they were almost home did Tala's face pale and he shouted out.

"WE FORGOT TURKEYZILLA IN THE CART!"


	5. Let It Snow

**December 21** **st**

After running back to the grocery store and Tala having to fight back an elderly woman from taking his Turkeyzilla, the boys had gotten home and brought in the groceries from the van.

"Tala… That's not going to fit in the freezer." Bryan sighed out as he watched his captain taking out the shelves from the freezer.

"I'll make it fit." Tala said, ignoring the other Russian as he tossed another metal shelf over his shoulder.

"Then where are we going to put the other frozen items?" Bryan asked, dodging the metal shelf.

Tala paused for a second as if he was thinking it over. "I don't know." He shrugged, taking out the last metal shelf and tossed it over his shoulder with the other two. "Help me get this in there." He motioned to the turkey he had placed in the sink, where even there it wasn't fitting properly.

Bryan thought it best to keep his mouth shut, going over and hefting the great bird out of the sink and standing beside Tala, once again eyeing the small space of the freezer. Tala grabbed the other end of the bird, and hoisted it towards the empty freezer. The top round breast portion of the bird got stuck against the top of the freezer door, causing the teens to twist and turn it a bit with no luck.

"I told you." Bryan huffed out, becoming a bit breathless after having fought with the bird several more times before dumping it back into the sink beside him.

"Shut up, I'm thinking." Tala said, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at the freezer. "Why do they have such a puny freezer?!"

"Why can't we just put it in the fridge?" Bryan asked.

"It'll go bad by then, that's what Ray said." Tala shrugged. "I know!" Tala said as his eyes widened, the imaginary light bulb going off above his head.

Bryan watched with curiosity, not sure what was going through the wolf's mind anymore since he came back from his coma after his battle with Garland over the summer. Since then, Tala hadn't really been the same, but he didn't mind it all that much.

"KAIIIIIII!" Tala's voice rung out, causing Bryan to wince from the shrillness of it.

"Kakiye?!" Kai called back in the other boy's native tongue.

"Speak English, and come here!" Tala called back throughout the house.

Kai stepped into the kitchen a second later, looking rather displeased for having been called throughout the house.

"What?" He barked out.

"You still have the keys to your grandfather's house, right?" Kai's face paled a little and he nodded, narrowing his eyes at the red head. Bryan arched an eyebrow at his captain, still unsure where Tala was going with this.

"Great, we need to get the fridge from there." Tala said plainly.

"What?" Kai repeated as if he hadn't heard the wolf. "What for?"

"Turkeyzilla won't fit in this freezer, but I know your fridge has a bigger freezer." Tala explained, looking rather bored now. Did no one have vision or bright ideas? Tala did, he had plenty and he was more than willing to share them with the others.

"Before you say put it in the fridge, that won't work. Mother cat has spoken and said it will go bad by Christmas, so we need to get the fridge from your grandfather's place."

"Okay, but I have one question for you though." Kai said, a smirk crossing his lips.

"And I have an answer." Tala responded, not even blinking once.

Kai's smirk grew as he crossed his arms over his chest, pausing slightly just so he could make sure to remember Tala's face when he burst his bubble and plan. Bryan was busy looking between the two, if he was sitting he'd be on the edge of his seat with all the built-up anticipation.

"How are we going to get the fridge here?" Kai asked, letting another minute pass over them.

His smirk growing into a full-width smile as he watched Tala's face fall, if he was anyone other than himself, Kai would have done a victory dance in having one-upped the wolf. Obviously, Tala did NOT have an answer to Kai's question.

"We'll carry it." Tala said, not once hinting he was joking. Kai and Bryan exchanged a glance with each other, then back to the wolf with looks of disbelief. "What?" He looked between the two.

"Tala… That house is a good ten miles or more away from here, we can not carry it." Kai deadpanned, running a hand down his face.

"Do you have a better plan?" Tala asked, placing his hands on his hips.

Kai went to speak when Hiro stepped into the kitchen, choosing to ignore the food that had been in the freezer, now all over the kitchen floor along with the metal shelves. With a sigh he promptly went to turn and leave, already forgetting why he had bothered stepping in there in the first place.

"Hiro?" Tala called, stopping the older male from leaving.

"What?!" Hiro snapped, his nerves beyond repair now.

Aside from the shopping fiasco they had earlier, he was now having to babysit the others as Tala had promptly gave strict instructions on how to decorate the living room with the things they had gotten. Of course, everything would have been going fine if the other teens could actually get along, and follow orders, but with Hiro's luck no one was getting along nor following orders.

Mariah and Hilary were constantly arguing about where to hang the garland and other decorations for the inside of the house. Kevin and Daichi were arguing over lights and where to put them on the tree, since Tala had declared the previous way wasn't suitable. Tyson and Max were bugging Kenny about synchronizing the lights to Christmas music from his laptop. Nothing was getting done and it didn't help that Lee, Gary, and Ray had left him in the living room to deal with the others on his own.

"Do you think that van of yours could fit a fridge if we lay the seats down?" Tala asked, unfazed by the elder's tone towards him.

"No. Not even with the seats down, but my truck would work… But wait, why are you asking?" Hiro asked, turning to face the red-head.

"Oh, that'll work then. We need a ride to Hiwatari manor, think you can take us there?"

"But… Why?!"

"The bird won't fit in the freezer, so genius here wants to get the one from my grandfather's place." Kai sighed out, shaking his head.

"What? It'll fit." Hiro said, pushing past Kai and Bryan to the bird still lounging in the sink.

Bryan and Kai stepped back, both exchanging glances again with humorous smirks crossing their lips as Hiro tried to lift the bird out of the sink. They started counting in their heads, timing Hiro and how soon he'd give up on fighting to get the monstrous bird from inside the sink. Almost a full minute had passed before Hiro gave up, breathing in heavily as he leaned across the bird's top half in the sink.

"I'll get the keys…" He said through a breath of air, shuffling his feet as he left the kitchen.

Tala just smiled his thanks, of course he was beaming brighter than the star on top of the Christmas tree now. "Should check on the others then. Put this stuff back for me will you guys?" He said, waving over his shoulder to the other two before he walked out of the kitchen.

"No no no." Kai and Bryan could hear him start on the others, deciding it best to stick inside the kitchen and clean up the mess Tala had managed to make.

"I honestly wouldn't mind being still sick right about now." Kai breathed out, setting in the last metal shelf, taking the food Bryan was passing to him as he placed it back into the freezer.

"We should bring someone else with us, to help get the fridge." Bryan said, passing him the last frozen pizza from the ground.

"Hiro's truck is only a two-seater." Kai said back, shutting the freezer door. "I'd suggest Gary, but already with us four, two of us will have to be in the bed of the truck and with the fridge in the back it won't work." Bryan nodded to Kai's words, a glimmer of an idea flitting across his eyes.

"Kon." They both said in unison, after a minute seemed to pass over them. Out of everyone there, they knew he'd be the less one to put up a fuss and someone both Russians didn't mind being around.

* * *

"I told you to lift it from the bottom!" Tala bit out angrily, his arms shaking from the weight being placed on them as he gripped the front of the fridge.

"I AM lifting it from the bottom!" Bryan yelled back over the face of the fridge, his pale face turning red from the strain he was putting on his arms. "Just walk dammit!" He yelled, taking a shaky step forward.

"WAIT!" Ray called out, almost getting knocked into the doorframe behind him as he stumbled over his own feet, trying not to drop his corner of the fridge.

The five boys paused once again, all glaring at one another over the face of the fridge as they willed their legs not to tremble or their grips to falter on their end. Tala and Ray were at the front of the fridge, walking backwards with it, while Bryan and Kai were at the end, walking forward with the fridge while Hiro stood on the right side of it. They had managed to get the fridge away from it's cubby in the wall, but now they were stuck in the doorway of the kitchen and hall of the Hiwatari manor and had been for a good five minutes now.

"Kai, your side is slacking." Hiro bit out, shifting his weight a bit. Kai grumbled under his breath, picking up his end a bit higher.

"Alright, on the count of three we turn it slightly." Tala said, eyeing the fridge and the doorway behind him.

The others mumbled their understanding, their muscles tensing again as Tala began to shimmy his was towards the doorway. Ray had to scoot closer to Tala's side, almost to the middle of the fridge so he could make it through the doorway.

"Hiro, you're going to have to let go." Ray said, his voice shaking as his legs were threatening to give out on him at any moment.

Hiro promptly let his side go, the boys that were on his side let out a noise as the fridge dropped a good inch from the slack in the middle. Quickly they regained their holds and shuffled through the door, trying to twist the fridge slightly so it could pass through the doorway. The second Bryan and Kai passed through with the bottom of the fridge, Hiro was back on his side picking up the slack.

Luckily for the boys, the main doors were double doors and they just walked right out onto the front steps where Hiro had backed his truck up to the doors. Promptly Tala and Ray shimmied around the fridge, not once releasing their grips on it as they went on either side of the fridge, resting the front end of it onto the bed of the truck and let the other two boys shove it the rest of the way in.

Bryan leaned against the bottom of the fridge, his muscles burning and his legs shaking slightly as Kai sat on the little space of the tailgate of the truck, wiping the sweat from his brow. Tala began stretching his arms out behind his back, over his head and shaking out his wrists. Ray had jumped off the front steps, landing into the snow on his back while Hiro slid down the wall of the house.

"We'll let the others get that thing in the house." Hiro breathed out between pants, the other simply nodded.

"That bird better fit." Ray grumbled from his spot in the snow, the cold seeping through his jacket and numbing his aching muscles.

"If it doesn't, I'm wringing your neck Ivanov." Bryan sneered, Kai nodded.

"Fine, then we should get going. Did you bring the straps to tie it down with?" Tala asked, and Bryan's face fell.

"When did you ask me to get straps?!"

"You didn't bring anything to tie this damn thing down with?!" Tala shouted back, stomping his foot into the ground.

"You didn't ask me to, so no I didn't!" Bryan yelled back, getting in Tala's face.

"Guys, it's fine." Hiro cut in, not truly knowing why he was butting in, though his words seemed to fall on deaf ears when Tala stepped closer to Bryan.

"I didn't think I had to ask you to get those, I figured you were smart enough to get something on your own!" Tala ground out, his fists clenching at his sides.

"At least I'm not the one who got a turkey the size of a dog!" Bryan growled out.

"Guy, that's enough." Ray sat up quickly, trying to diffuse the situation and looked over at Kai with a look that said 'do something, they're your friends'.

Kai only glanced at him for a second, reading the look and with a sigh he stood up from the tail gate. "I have straps in the shed." He pushed himself between the wolf and falcon, ignoring the growls in their throats as he passed by them back into the manor.

Tala and Bryan stood apart, crossing their arms over their chests as they turned away from each other. Hiro and Ray let out a sigh of relief, and it fell silent between them until Kai came back with straps. Quietly they tied the fridge down, taking their places back in the truck to head back to the Granger house just as fresh snow started to fall from the sky.

When the truck pulled into the drive of the house, the snow seemed to be pouring out of the sky now, painting the world around them in white as it settled in the trees and rooftops of the homes. Hiro cut the engine to his truck off, Ray jumping out of the passenger seat.

"I'll get the others." He said quickly, dashing into the house and coming back momentarily with the other boys from inside. "Don't ask questions, get start getting this in the house." He said to the others, Max and Tyson looked at him as if he had three heads.

"How do you expect us to get that in the house?" Tyson asked, coming out of his stupor.

"With your hands." Bryan said with a roll of his eyes. "Preferably."

"Listen, I was almost killed trying to get that thing here. Gary will take most of the weight anyways, you'll be fine." Ray said, trying to lighten the mood with a smile.

Gary gave a snort as if he agreed, while Lee walked up to the truck and inspected the fridge in the back. "It shouldn't be too hard, c'mon guys." He motioned for the other four boys to come over, the sooner they got this over with the better.

"You guys should at least help us." Tyson said, looking at the others who had just gotten back.

"Oh no Tyson." Hiro chuckled a bit. "We got it here, it's your turn now."

Tyson grumbled something under his breath, stepping up to the truck and eyeing the fridge. "Why did you even get this?" He asked, helping Lee and Gary pull the fridge out a bit.

Max waited on the left side with Kevin on the right, ready to catch the end once it reached the end of the bed. Bracing themselves the fridge's end fell, and they caught it, cursing under their breaths until Gary took the middle and lifted most of the weight off their arms.

"This'll be entertaining." Bryan smirked, nudging Tala in the side. Tala nodded, their previous argument gone with the wind.

The ones now carrying the fridge mumbled profanities the entire way, pausing in the doorway until they figured out how to maneuver the fridge through without crushing fingers or hitting shoulders against the frame. Eventually the fridge was carried into the kitchen, where the others came in and helped push it in place where the old one was.

"Alright, now for the bird." Tala said as he stepped back, eyeing the new fridge.

With ease he pulled the sopping wet package that held the turkey from the sink, placing it in the bigger freezer of the Hiwatari fridge. "Perfect, and there's still space for everything else." He beamed, while the others were busy rubbing out their sore muscles.

"You're on your own there Tala." Ray said, rolling his shoulders as he stepped out with Max and Tyson, both looking as if they had just run for a day straight.

Bryan stayed back, sitting himself on the counter across from the fridge to watch while the others filed out of the kitchen. Tala didn't seem to mind as he was already stocking the freezer with the rest of the frozen goods, a slight hum coming from his throat as he worked. Bryan shook his head slightly, watching his captain work, a small smile coming to his lips.


	6. You're a Mean One Mr Sourpuss

**December 24** **th**

As the days had ticked down to Christmas day since the house had become overflowed with rowdy teens, Hiro thought it best to just avoid leaving his room at all unless absolutely necessary. The snow that had started to fall three days ago wasn't letting up, and even though Tyson and Lee had taken turns shoveling it away from the door, they had seemed to give up on it and now they were all practically barricaded inside the house.

The fights that transpired between the different sets of teens were not stopping, only increasing. Most if not all the boys that happened to get stuck under a mistletoe that Mariah and Hilary had placed all over the house, either turned on their heels and ran or in Tyson and Max's case, didn't mind sharing a kiss or two under it. If Daichi got stuck under it with someone, he puckered his lips and waited while the poor unfortunate soul ran the other way leaving him there.

The few times Mariah had managed to catch Ray underneath one, somehow Hiro, Kai, or Bryan pushed him out from under it and she took off running from them. Tala was the only one who had seemed to stay in the Christmas spirit, finding great pleasure when he'd plant a quick kiss on whoever's lips that happened to be stuck with him under the mistletoe, not caring who he left in a state of utter shock when he walked away.

Currently, under the archway for the kitchen and living room was Hiro staring at a blushing Ray. Both having been so wrapped up in what they had been doing, they had passed-by each other without truly realizing it until Tala called out to them and they froze under the mistletoe.

"You know the rules." He said, placing his hands on his hips as he watched Ray's face turn brighter red, while Hiro had a faint blush cross the bridge of his nose.

Tala wasn't blind, hell, if the others weren't so wrapped up in themselves they would have been able to see the eldest of them all had a thing for the neko-jin. Tyson had been good on his word and not said a thing to anybody, but even he didn't know how much Hiro truly liked Ray. Tala though, having the brains he did, could see that Ray wasn't into Hiro as much as Hiro would have liked him to be.

"But Tala, the others have been able to get away with not doing it." Ray stammered, his blush deepening.

Tala waved his hand in the air, dismissing his words. "That's only because I wasn't here to stop them and make sure they did it properly. Now, if you don't mind while we're still young." He motioned for the two to step closer, a coy smirk crossing his lips.

Ray's mouth fell open and he gaped at the red-head before turning his attention to the elder Granger brother, surely it wouldn't be too bad. Just a quick peck on the lips, no big deal, he thought to himself. He gave Hiro a slight apologetic look, and bridged the space between them. Hiro gave a soft smile, and cleared his throat before bending down slightly to capture Ray's lips with his own.

A bright flash caused the two to jump back, both shooting daggers with their eyes at Tala who was holding his phone up, another blinding flash went off as he took another picture.

"TALA!" Ray whined out, his face just as red as said teen's hair.

"What? This'll fetch some good money." Tala said, looking down at his phone with a bright smile. "Besides, you two are pretty cute together."

Hiro looked away, hiding behind his hand as his own blush intensified. Ray's mouth open and fell repeatedly, doing the perfect impression of a fish out of water. Before anyone could really respond Tala's, smile widened, as his fingers danced across the screen of his phone.

"And sent." He chirped. "Well, see you later." He winked, waving at the two before walking away.

"W… Wait Tala!" Ray called out, rushing after the teen up the stairs. "Who did you send that to! Tala come back here!" He shouted out.

Still in a bit of a daze Hiro stood there, his hand over his mouth to where he traced his lips where he could still feel the lingering touch from Ray's upon his. There had been nothing there, he had hoped for some sort of spark or something more than just nothing. He was sure Ray had also felt nothing, if anything he felt embarrassed because of the wolf that had decided to exploit them.

"Hey, you alright bro?" Tyson asked, coming to stand just outside the doorway beside Hiro. He didn't need to be caught under the mistletoe with his own brother, not after having watched Tala force the other two into kissing.

Hiro simply nodded his head, even if deep down he didn't feel alright. That simple touch, that simple kiss had seemed to crash his entire world down. Maybe it was because they had been made a spectacle for the others to see, and now possibly the world or who ever Tala sent the pictures to. That's what it was, he was sure of it. The only reason he didn't feel what he had hoped to feel was there were too many people watching, it was forced, and Ray had been just as uncomfortable about the whole thing. If he got the neko-jin away, somewhere more private he was sure he would actually feel something if they shared another kiss. Silently he vowed to himself that he would find out, somehow, he would even if it took all winter long.

"Just fine Tyson." Hiro finally spoke, going into the kitchen.

* * *

Upstairs Tala sat on Kai's bed, smiling victoriously as he watched the crimson eyed teen look at him venomously. Why the wolf thought this would be funny was beyond him, while he himself was livid. Ray had given up banging on the door for some time now, and neither could hear him in the hall any more.

"Don't look at me like that, you have no one to blame but yourself." Tala said unfazed by the death glare his best friend was giving him as he stood against the wall across from his bed, arms crossed over his chest to restrain himself from strangling the other teen.

"I'm sure you've noticed how he looks at him, if you don't step up he's going to be whisked away before you know it." Tala continued, while Kai seemed to seethe more.

"I'm just trying to help you Kai." Tala shrugged, getting a snort in response. "Look, I came all this way to help you and you've done nothing! Congratulations, you're rooming with him now, but you still haven't said anything. If I go home and listen to you calling me up in the middle of the night all the time again, I'm going to come back and tell him. You're lucky I haven't yet." He threatened, narrowing his icy blue eyes at Kai.

Kai rolled his eyes, the muscles in his back relaxing slightly. "Then maybe you should take your own advice." He scorned.

"Don't try to turn this on me!" Tala barked out. "Tell him, or I will." He threatened.

Kai shook his head. "No."

"Why not!? What's stopping the great Kai Hiwatari from admitting his feelings? Are you that scared of rejection? You know he likes you, you can see it when he looks at you. The flirting, the little 'joke' the others came up with."

"I am not scared." Kai said angrily, narrowing his eyes more as his brows furrowed.

"Pfft, then what do you call this?" Tala asked, motioning towards the other teen. "Because from where I'm sitting, you look terrified. Quit putting on a show for the others, let them actually in for once. It's not a weakness, what Boris drilled into our heads was nothing but lies. You should have realized that by now."

Kai just adverted his gaze. "Of course I know that!" He bit out in a growl. "Just butt out of my business."

Tala sighed, shaking his head a bit. "If that's what you want." He said. "But don't come crying to me when he moves on." He lowered his tone, promptly standing from the edge of the bed and walking out of the room, slamming the door behind him as he went.

For the rest of the day it seemed like Kai was walking on eggshells whenever he came out of his room, yes, he had been bunking down in Ray's room at night, but he still took to his room to get away from the others during the day. He had become overly cautious around the doorways, checking twice for any other person coming through before stepping through one wherever he may have been. Whenever he and Tala crossed paths he would glare at the red-head, though it didn't help settle his nerves when Tala would only smile to him and continue on his way.

If Tala wanted to play this game, then so could he. He smirked to himself as ideas started to fill his head, he would get the wolf to admit his feelings for the falcon and then he'd be to wrapped up with Bryan to bother about Kai anymore. Though, that was easier said than done.

If Kai was bad enough hiding his feelings, Tala was next in line at being the worst to admit his feelings, and it didn't help that Bryan was sticking himself to Ray's hip now. Whether he was doing that per Tala's instructions to grate on Kai's nerves, or he was doing it for his own purposes, Kai didn't know. Having to fight off one teen for the neko-jin was already enough, but now having to fight off two was going to slowly get on his nerves.

If the others could picture the little black cloud that seemed to follow their captain like a bad omen, they would have gawked and ran away as it grew in size of his head while he seemed to stomp around the house. Dinner was no different, he sat there grumbling and picking at his food.

He wasn't scared of being rejected, he wasn't scared of anything but one thing. If, and that was a strong if, Ray actually did reciprocate his feelings. Kai's only one true fear was, what if he couldn't make Ray happy? All the neko-jin had to do was stand beside Kai and his mood was lifted, Ray had that way with people, but Kai. Anyone coming within three feet of the stoic teen and their mood dropped or they high tailed it away from him, Ray though never seemed bothered by his moods, no matter how foul they may have been.

Truth of the matter was, it had always been Ray. He was level headed, calm and passionate about his friends and rivals. Yes, Tyson had made friends with everyone of their rivals, but Ray was also there congratulating their failures and accomplishments. He was a good backbone to the team, to their lives. Amongst their team, Ray was considered Kai's best friend. Kai had just never been good about expressing these thoughts to the other teen, how could he when he had a reputation to uphold? Maybe Tala was right though, and there was only way to get everything out in the open.

"Ray." Kai called for said teen, who like always, was sitting across from him at the table, while the others had clambered around the sides of the table.

"Hm?" Ray asked as he looked up from his plate, coming out of his quiet conversation with Lee on his right.

Kai simply tilted his head back, indicating Ray to follow him. Ray simply nodded, pushing away from his chair as he excused himself from the dinning room. The boys started out through the archway, when the others began to giggle causing them to stop.

"You know the rulessss." Tala sang out, causing the other two teens to look up above their heads.

"Again?" Ray whined out. "This is the fifth time today." He mumbled under his breath shaking his head.

Kai ground his teeth, he would have been fine if it wasn't for the others all watching, Mariah scowling and Hiro looking away. Tyson made a kissing face, puckering his lips together and making noises.

"Mother and father are going to share a kiss, how sweet." He said between his noises.

"Lord save them." Ray mumbled as he watched Kai's eyes light with a fire, staring at the world champion still at the table. "Let's just get it over with." He said, snapping Kai from his glaring at their unruly 'child'.

Kai arched an eyebrow at Ray, who just shrugged. "Rules are rules." He said before reaching up and placing his lips upon Kai's quickly.

Ray jumped back slightly, eyes slightly wide as Kai looked as if nothing had fazed him. Deep down though his stomach twisted in knots and he felt a tad breathless, the lingering touch still present on his lips. Tala's phone flashed, and again and again.

"This'll be the perfect Christmas card." He sang, looking down at his phone.

Kai didn't say anything, grabbing Ray by the wrist and hauling him out of the dining room and through the kitchen outback. Ignoring the 'rules' as both boys passed under two other sets of mistletoe above their heads. Kai had to force the door open, pushing the snow out of the way as it had built up outside the door.

"He's just messing around." Ray started, seeing how Kai was still tense. "He took one of Hiro and me earlier, I don't know who he sent it to though." Ray grumbled.

"Would he make you happy?" Kai said quickly, looking away slightly once he realized he had spoken at all.

What was he doing anyways? He had no clue, not now since that small kiss. His brain had shut down on him, the great Kai Hiwatari had become rendered useless by a simple touch of skin on skin. Surely his grandfather and Boris would be scoffing if they saw him, if they even knew who he truly was. Ray tilt his head to the side slightly, arching an eyebrow at his captain.

"Would who make me happy?"

Kai's brain seemed to freeze, lost in staring at those golden orbs of his teammate, his best friend, his crush.

"Never mind." He looked away once more, trying to reclaim his brain and body.

"You sure?" Ray asked a bit timidly, his heart racing in his chest.

"Just forget it, after what happened I can't even remember what I wanted to talk to you about." Kai said, going back into the house.

"Okay…" Ray mumbled, watching Kai go back inside.

He kicked at the snow under his feet a bit, his ears perking when the door opened again, and Tala stepped outside.

"So?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Ray simply shook his head. "No…" Tala let out a breath as if he was deflating like a balloon.

"God I'm going to wring his neck." Ray chuckled, his mood slightly lifting.

"I could just tell him." Ray shrugged.

"No, no we can't have you do that. That's too easy." Tala said, flicking his wrist. "No, if he wants to be a stubborn ass I say we go for plan B."

"I thought we were already on plan B."

"Fine, plan C." Tala shrugged. "I swear to you, he will come clean by tomorrow. If not, he's going to meet my dear friends, lefty and righty." He said while holding his fists up, jabbing them into the air a few times.

Ray laughed, shaking his head slightly. "If it makes you any happier, he did ask if I'd be happy with someone else, but he didn't say who."

"He probably meant Hiro. I sent him the photo of you two under the mistletoe." Tala said nonchalantly, wrapping his arms around his chest.

Ray's face fell, his mouth hanging slightly open. "Why would you do that?! Please don't tell me you sent the other ones to him too." He half whined out.

"No, just that one. I was hoping it'd push him, and it almost worked." Tala shrugged his shoulders. "Guess we need to find another approach."

"I am not kissing anyone else, it's bad enough Mariah is trying to catch me under one of those…" Ray shuddered slightly, and it wasn't because of the cold wind that blew by them.

"I know! We'll kick Lee out of your room." Tala said as he palmed his left fist into his right.

"Yeah, cus that'll go over well. Where would even we put him?" Ray asked rolling his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He can bunk with the other two, or his sister." Tala shrugged again. "Maybe if you're finally alone with him, he'll have the balls to talk to you more openly. I do not want to have to listen to him crying over the phone the second I get back home."

"He really does that?"

"Cry? No, but god it's pretty close. He'll call me up and talk my ear off about you nonstop. 'Ray did this, Ray did that. Ray is this, Ray is that. I messed up and Ray bit my head off for once, who does he think he is? I almost punched his face, that god awful perfect face of his'." Ray laughed harder than he had before, holding his stomach and tears came to the corners of his eyes.

"No way, he didn't say those things." He said through his laughter, trying to fill his lungs with air once more.

"You best believe he did, I don't exactly remember the fight you two had, but that's what he said. Look, it's now or never. And I'll be dammed if you step up, so don't you dare." He threatened quickly.

"Alright I won't. Could you call Bryan off though, I don't think that's going to help any." Tala rose an eyebrow at Ray.

"I didn't tell him to stick to you."

"Oh… I'm sorry Tala, I thought…" Tala shrugged his shoulders, looking away from the other teen.

"Actually, that might help us in the end, surely Kai has taken notice of it and that won't go over well."

"Yeah… But I didn't want to hurt you."

"I'm not." Tala said quickly, though his body language said differently. "It's like I told Kai, this isn't about me. I'm here to help you two, not myself. If Bryan is that blind, then he just doesn't know what he's missing." His words trailed, his eyes lighting up as the light bulb above his head turned on. "Never mind…. I have the perfect plan."

Ray slightly took a step back, not sure if he truly liked that glimmer in Tala's eyes as they landed back on him, looking him over quickly and a smile came to his lips.

"I should have stayed sick…" Ray mumbled under his breath.


	7. All I Want for Christmas

**Thank you all who came back, or popped up out of nowhere and followed along with this.  
I won't lie, I struggled a lot while writing this, mainly cus I just didn't feel it as much as I have my other fics but with everyone's love and support I pulled through and I hope you enjoy this last chapter. After reading over everything, again and again, I actually am quite pleased with it all in the end.  
So thank you, to everyone who followed, and the reviews I received from everyone. As promised, this came out on Christmas day, for me at least since it's only 3 in the morning.  
Merry Christmas all the same though, and have a happy New Year! **

* * *

**December 24** **th**

"Um… Tala, Ray?" Tyson paused in stuffing the spoon full of ice-cream into his mouth when the other two teens stepped back inside the house from out back.

Ray looked at his feet, fidgeting them and trying not to blush as Tala just squeezed his hand tighter in his own. Tyson's eyes seemed to flick from their locked hands to them, then back a few more times.

"We're dating Tyson, got it now? Take a picture, it'd last longer." Tala said, rolling his eyes.

"Uh… Sure… Okay…" Tyson could only nod as he watched the other two walk away, pausing under the doorway where Tala pulled Ray into a kiss before taking the neko-jin's hand once more and leading him to the stairs.

"What the hell is in this stuff?!" Tyson asked no one in particular, looking at the spoon of ice-cream, deciding to toss the spoon and container in the trash.

Upstairs Tala had led Ray to his room, promptly shoving the door open causing Lee and Kai to jolt from their spots on the floor.

"You two, out." Tala said, indicating to the two teens.

"Wait… What?" Lee asked, rubbing his eyes from the light sleep that had started to creep into them. He blinked a few times, till his eyes landed on the hands.

"What the hell is going on?" He almost growled out, Kai only glared, and his fists clenched under his sheets.

"Simple, Ray and I are together now and would like some privacy. Kai, you can go back to your room with Bryan." Tala said, flicking his wrist with his free hand. "Lee, you can go wherever." He shrugged, not once fazed by the red-eyed glare from his best friend. After all, it was his fault they had to resort to this.

"Sorry Lee…" Ray mumbled, trying to hide his face behind his bangs.

"Nah man, it's cool… Just wish you had told me, ya know?" Lee said, promptly standing and grabbing his 'bed' off the floor. "I'll see you in the morning, we'll talk then."

"Sure." Ray nodded, giving him a weak smile.

"Kai, out you go." Tala waved on at the still sitting, and seething teen.

[What the hell are you playing at?] Kai bit out, switching to Russian to keep Ray in the dark.

[Nothing, I just realized that I am madly and deeply in love with the cat.] Tala said, batting his eyelashes and pulling Ray closer to his side. [You brought this on yourself, Hiwatari.] He sneered out.

[I'm not leaving, Bryan took my bed.] Kai said, crossing his arms over his chest. [And I told you to butt out.] He narrowed his eyes.

[Fine then, get this done before I get Turkeyzilla and beat you with it.] He said quickly, shoving Ray into the room and closing the door behind him.

Ray blinked a few times, not sure what had been said or what had just happened. One second he knew Tala was beside him, and now he wasn't, and his door was shut behind him and Kai was still glaring at him, perfect. It made perfect sense, didn't it?

"Sorry about that…" He rubbed the back of his head, not sure what else to say or do. Tala hadn't really explained his plan, just said for him to go along with it as they went.

"You don't really have to go, if you want you can take my bed. Tala and I won't fit on the bed." He said, finding his confidence. "It just kind of happened, ya know. Who knew, right?" He laughed a bit nervously, not sounding as convincing as he should have been.

Kai simply snorted and shook his head slightly, already figuring everything out, but it wasn't going to break him.

"I don't care who you whore with." He paused, his eyes slightly wide. Had that _really_ just come out of _his_ mouth?!

"I'm sorry, what did you just say? I'm not sure I heard you correctly!" Ray bit out, anger washing over him in a second.

Kai looked up and met Ray's own angry glare, his pupils quivering as he fought them back from slitting.

"That…. No that's…" He stumbled over his words, only a handful of times had he ever seen the neko-jin look _that_ angry.

"Whatever Kai, get out." Ray bit out, crossing his arms over his chest. On top of being angry he was hurt, Kai's words felt like a knife to his chest and it pained him to his core.

Kai simply nodded, grabbing his things. As he passed the still fuming teen he paused, only slightly as if he was going to apologize but he closed his mouth and left. Once the door had closed Ray bit the inside of his cheek, not sure what to feel right at that moment. He wanted to hit Kai, scream at him and at the same time reveal his deepest secret all in the matter of seconds. He had pushed those thoughts away, if that was Kai's reaction to it, then would he even be a compatible boyfriend?

"Ray? Ray what happened?" Tala asked, coming in quietly and standing in front of Ray who had sat on the end of his bed visibly shaking.

"He screwed up…" Ray breathed out. "I screwed up… Why is this so hard?" He willed himself not to blame the wolf, it wasn't like Tala had forced him into going along with his plan.

"What'd the idiot do now?" Tala huffed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ray shook his head slightly. "Nothing… I'm tired, we should go to sleep. The kids will be up at the crack of dawn for presents." Ray said and fell onto his bed, rolling around to face the wall.

Tala sat down beside him, running his fingers through the loose strands above the wrap. "We'll figure it out, he says things that he doesn't mean at times. You know how he is."

"That's the problem though, isn't it?" Ray said, sitting up once more. "What if he doesn't change? I don't want him to change completely, but he needs to open up more, talk to me more and actually think things through. He has to know I won't hurt him, that he can trust us sooner or later. We've known him for three years, almost four now, and only one year out of those was he ever actually different." Ray went on, biting the inside of his cheek again to stop the tears.

"Don't tell me you're about to give up." Tala said rolling his eyes. "If so you're pathetic. I've been chasing after Bryan for much longer than three measly years, and I love his flaws just like the rest of him."

"That's not what I meant… I love everything about Kai, but sometimes I wonder if we are too different." Ray cut in quickly, shaking his head. Now on top of his other emotions he was feeling guilty for having said what he previously did, of course he loved Kai's flaws, but he did wish the other teen would just open up a bit more.

"What did he say?" Tala sighed out.

"I don't care who you whore with." Ray mumbled out, if Tala wasn't sitting so close he wouldn't have heard it.

"Zhopa!" Tala screamed out, jumping for the bed and storming out of the room.

Ray sat there with wide eyes, and jumped from his bed the second Tala started banging on the door to the room beside his own, yelling out in more Russian that he didn't understand. By now the rest of the house had started to open their doors from down the hall, Ray tried to shoo them away as he stood out in the hall.

"Don't worry about it guys." He waved them off, though the more curious ones decided to stay and came up beside Ray as Tala was set on beating the door down.

"What happened?" Max asked sleepily.

"It's a long story…" Ray sighed out, hanging his head slightly.

"Is this cause you and Tala are dating?" Tyson perked up beside Max.

"Yes… And no…" Ray shook his head slowly, his bangs swaying with the movement.

"Hey, whoa Tala that's enough!" Hiro called out, running down the hall from his room. "What is going on?!" He scorned, effectively pulling the fuming red-head away from the door.

Tala sighed leaned over to Hiro, whispering in his ear quietly. Hiro's eyes widened, and he glanced at Ray then at the door, his fist meeting it with about the same force as Tala's.

"Get out here now Hiwatari!" Hiro said between each hit, the door about to cave in from the force.

Bryan came up the stairs, hand stuck in a bag of chips as he looked at the scene he had come upon.

"He's not in there." He said, Hiro's fist stopped mid-strike and hung in the air a bit.

"Where is he?!" Tala and Hiro yelled in unison.

"Dunno." Bryan shrugged his shoulders, popping a chip into his mouth.

"Well this has been entertaining, but we're heading back to bed." Tyson said through a yawn, tugging on Max's pj's sleeve, leading the younger teen back to their now shared room.

"We should just wait till he comes back." Ray suggested, still finding the floor beneath his feet to be the most interesting thing in the world to him at that moment.

"You go to bed Ray. Bryan, you and I are looking for that bastard." Tala said venomously, Bryan arched a curious brow.

"What'd the idiot do now?" He half chuckled, crumpling the chip bag in his hands.

"I'll tell you on the way there." Tala said, pulling Bryan's jacket sleeve as he walked by.

"Hey, Bryan." Ray piped up, stopping the two at the top of the stairs. "Don't be an idiot." Ray said with a soft smile, which only grew when he saw Tala's face flush slightly while Bryan just looked rather confused.

"I'll try my best?" Bryan shrugged, and was promptly pulled down the stairs by his captain.

"You alright?" Hiro asked, coming to stand beside Ray, placing a hand on the younger teens shoulder.

"I don't know Hiro… I don't even know why I went along with Tala's plans… I just… Why can't he open up to us, me? If he likes me so damn much, why can't he just say it to my face?"

Hiro's hand fell to his side, his eyes wide with shock. "Who… Who likes you?" Three guesses and Hiro would have figured it out, but blame it on the way the past few days had been, his mind had simply shut down and blocked anything out aside from the basic needs to keep himself alive.

"Kai, the big idiot. He could have said something to me, but no he chose to clam up and say something so… So stupid!" Ray bit out, pulling at the ends of his hair.

"And what about you?" Hiro asked.

"Of course I do… I always have…" Ray shrugged a bit. "His words hurt, yeah… I won't give him an excuse for saying what he did, he should have known me better than to say that."

"Then you should grab your coat and go with the other two." Hiro said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And hit him once or twice, and then tell him how you feel. One of you has to do it in the end."

Ray mulled over Hiro's words and then deciding on his decision he nodded, a bright smile coming to his lips as he dashed down the stairs.

"And give him a good punch from me while you're at it." Hiro called to the teen as he disappeared down the stairs.

"You got it!" Ray called out, and then the sound of the front door closing was all that could be heard through the house. Hiro slightly chuckled, shaking his head a bit while retreating back to his room.

"That's pretty noble of you bro." Tyson said as he was leaning against the doorway of his room, Max already curled back up on the bed asleep behind him.

"If he's happy, that's all I want." Hiro shrugged his shoulders. "Wouldn't you want the same for Max, if he had chosen someone else?"

"Pfft, hell no. I'd fight tooth and nail, but then again I guess that's what Ray is doing in the end after all." Hiro laughed but agreed with his brother all the same.

"Get some sleep Tyson, I'll see you in the morning." Hiro said, ruffling his younger brother's dark-blue locks before spacing the rest of the hall to his door.

* * *

Cold, that's all he felt, and he was sure that three of his toes were going to fall off from how they had become so numb out in the snow. He wasn't used to this, why now all of a sudden would the world decide to have a second ice age? The snow, the wind, everything seemed to be hindering his heightened senses as he trudged along trying to track down the other teens that had ran off. His face stung as the wind swept past him, chilling him to the bone and he clutched to his jacket tighter. He was going to die, he knew he was going to, and on Christmas day of all days!

"Tala! Bryan!" Ray called out, unsure if the other teens could even hear him over the howling of the wind.

He didn't even know where he was, aside from having walked three blocks away from the Granger's house. He had become blinded by the snow storm that decided to kick up out of nowhere, and now with the wind and snow flurries in his eyes he was lost.

"Damn…" He cursed, while his numb fingers reached into the pocket of his jacket, fumbling with his cell till he found the number he was looking for.

He tried to warm himself up, hopping from one foot to the other while his shaking hand held the phone to his ear as it rang.

"Where are you guys, I can't see anything in this storm!" He yelled into the phone, the second the other line had picked up.

"Why are you in the storm?!" Tala shouted out through the other end.

"I came looking for you guys!" Ray yelled back.

"Where did you think we went?! Ray, we're back at the house. Idiot number one was just outback."

Ray's mouth fell open. "You have got to be kidding me…" He ground out, his teeth chattering as he tried to grind them together.

"Just stay where you are, we'll come find you." Tala said quickly, and hung up leaving Ray to just stand and wait.

He hopped again in place, rubbing his arms a few times as he tried to hide his face under the rim of his jacket. He contemplated going back the way he came, though he didn't even know which way that was now, and he cursed under his breath again. His eyes were starting to close, and he fought them to stay open. How long had he even been out there waiting now? The storm wasn't letting up and his nerves having been shot already he was getting tired, his body giving up on trying to keep him awake long enough for his mini rescue squad.

His feet shifted, his back tilted as he felt his eyes slip closed. His entire body shook, and he tried to stop himself from falling back.

"RAY!"

"You idiot…" Ray whispered out, his body falling into the arms that stuck out to catch him and he curled closer to the warmth of the other teen.

"Alright, let's go back." Tala said, rushing over to the other two as Kai shifted Ray into his arms, keeping him close.

The three ran back through the storm to the house, almost unfazed by it all since they had dealt with worse while living in the Abbey. It didn't take them long to reach the Granger's house, Bryan shoving the door open for them as Kai walked in and laid Ray's shivering body on the couch. Tala ran about, grabbing every extra blanket he could find in the closets and the ones off Ray and Kai's bed.

"Here, wrap him up." He ordered, passing the bundle over into Kai's arms.

"Ray… Ray keep your eyes open a bit longer for me." Kai said, his voice soothing as he wrapped the neko-jin in the blankets.

"You idiot…" Ray whispered again, causing a faint smile to cross Kai's lips.

"You already said that." He chuckled slightly, rubbing Ray's arm under the bundle of blankets. "But you're talking, that's good." He reached over and dusted the snow out of Ray's hair, settling more into the floor on the side of the couch.

"I'm supposed… I'm supposed to hit you…" Ray mumbled, his teeth still chattering as he spoke and shifted under the blankets.

"Bryan and Tala beat you to that." Kai chuckled again, rubbing on Ray's arm a bit harder to help spread the heat. "Once you can, you're more than welcome to though."

"Good… You deserve it… Idiot…"

"I'm sorry Ray…" Kai said, his head hanging slightly where his bangs covered his eyes, though he didn't stop rubbing Ray's arm. "You know… I'm not good with these things… That doesn't excuse what I had said… I'm sorry."

Tala tapped Bryan on the shoulder, tilting his head back towards the stairs. Bryan nodded and followed his captain quietly up the stairs, leaving the other two in the living room.

"Bout damn time." Bryan mumbled under his breath as they reached the top of the stairs.

"I agree." Tala sighed out, opening Kai's door and stepping in.

"So, is that why you had said you were going out with Ray?" Bryan asked, raising a brow.

Tala nodded a bit sheepishly, eyes downcast at the floor beneath his feet where he had tracked in the snow that was beginning to melt on the wooden floor.

"That was pretty stupid of you two, but I suppose it's working in the end." Bryan shrugged, sitting beside Tala.

"Heh, you think? Not the brightest of my ideas, but you're right it is working." Tala said, a faint smile coming to his lips. "I would have suggested using you, since you were already attached to Ray's hip…" He trailed off, fiddling with his fingers over his lap.

"So you did notice?" Bryan asked, his voice hinting on playful.

"Of course I noticed!" Tala growled out, his face becoming flush as he had turned to face Bryan sitting beside him, not realizing that Bryan had inched closer to him.

"Good, it's about time you noticed something other than Kai and Ray."

"Wait… What?" Tala asked, eyes wide.

"You've been so wrapped up with getting Kai to get with Ray, I thought you had stopped noticing me… So, I started up my own plan and decided to hang around Ray more… Kai had already called me out on it, but that didn't stop me." Bryan shrugged, his face slowly inching a bit closer.

"You… You idiot!" Tala said, his face as red as his hair as he pushed Bryan's face away from his. "Why didn't you just say anything?"

Bryan shrugged. "Was waiting for you to, since you are the smartest, the oldest, and the best looking here." Bryan said as he inched closer once more, eyes darting up just for a second and Tala followed his gaze.

"Rules are rules." He shrugged, smirking at the little mistletoe above their heads and the bed.

"Rules are rules." Bryan repeated, bringing his lips to Tala's.

* * *

 **December 25** **th**

"Here, this should help." Kai said as he handed a mug out to Ray, who took it from the mountain of blankets still around him as he was sitting on the couch.

"Thanks..." Ray said, then sneezed. "Great…" He mumbled, taking the tissue Kai had handed out to him.

Kai nodded, sitting down on the coffee table across from Ray. Hands placed between his legs as he held them together, keeping his eyes focused on Ray as he sipped at the tea Kai had brought him. Kai had kept Ray awake all night, and now slowly the sun was starting to creep along through the windows of the house.

"Kid's will be up in a minute." Ray said over the rim of his mug, taking another sip as Kai chuckled slightly. "Some Christmas… Not what I had in mind when I said we should celebrate." He laughed, placing the mug between his legs.

"And now you're about to get sick again… Why did you leave the house, you know I always go out back?"

"After what you had said, I wasn't sure if I knew _you_ at all." Ray answered, looking into Kai's eyes and not breaking the contact. "It was like you didn't know _me_ at all either."

"I'm sorry Ray… I just… I don't even know…" Kai said, shaking his head slightly though his eyes didn't leave Ray's own. "I can blame it on Tala and his constant butting in, but really it was me in the end who said that to you and I'm sorry."

Ray breathed out a bit, tracing the rim of his mug in his hand. "It was a stupid idea, I should have just said something to you in the beginning… I was scared though, I wasn't sure how you would have reacted if I just told you how I felt. You're still so closed off to us, and I just didn't want to get hurt."

Kai nodded with a frown on his lips. "But I still did, in the end I still hurt you and that was my fear… I wasn't sure if I could make you happy… That's why I never said anything to you either… I figured Hiro, or even Tala could make you happier than I could."

"You do make me happy Kai, that's why I stayed here after BEGA. I didn't want to leave with the other White Tigers because of you, if I couldn't be with you at least I could still be here with you and the others. Having that made me happy enough, I just… I wanted more." He shrugged his shoulders slightly, though his eyes had been on Kai's the entire time he had spoken.

A small smile graced Ray's lips as the two had fallen silent for a second, and he started to giggle. Kai raised a brow at him, trying to think of what was so funny all of a sudden.

"What?"

"It's pretty sad when Tyson and Max had this better figured out than us, aren't we supposed to be the 'parents' after all?" Ray giggled some more, hiding it behind his hand.

"That is pretty sad." Kai chuckled back. "Are we… Are we okay though?" His brow arched higher when Ray pat the side of the couch beside him. Kai didn't bother to say anything as he stood and sat beside Ray, who leaned his head on Kai's shoulder.

"Thanks… For everything." Ray mumbled through a yawn, nestling his head into the crook of Kai's neck a bit more.

Kai pulled an arm around Ray's shoulders, drawing him in closer to his side as he picked up the other ends of the blanket 'fort' that had been around Ray and covered his other side up with it.

"You're welcome?" Kai said, after settling a bit more into the couch, another smirk crossing his face as Ray began to purr beside him as he fell asleep.

He let the other teen fall asleep, even as the others began waking up two hours later and coming down the stairs. Tyson looked rather confused, but his attention was quickly diverted when the others started for the presents under the tree. Tala just gave Kai a smile, while Kai noticed the wolf holding hands with the falcon and he too smiled back to the red-head.

With the commotion going on about them Ray stirred awake, though he kept his head on Kai's shoulder as he watched the others tearing into the presents he had gotten them all. For Tyson he had gifted him a heavier winter jacket with his last name engraved in the back, which was a good thing since the storm had brought out more snow. Max, he gave him a new launcher, this one a deep purple in color with a more accurate laser pointer. Tala he had bought last minute, and it had gotten him a pair of white snow boots. Bryan, he got a gift card, since Ray wasn't too sure about what to get him at all. While everyone from his ex-team got new winter jackets, while Hiro got a pair of new glasses and a leather jacket with his last name engraved in the back like Tyson's.

"Here, this ones for you Kai." Tyson said, tossing the package towards Kai who caught it.

"Hopefully it wasn't anything breakable." He mumbled, glaring at Tyson who ignored him as he marveled at his new jacket.

Ray chuckled. "It's not, open it up." He said, practically bouncing in his seat now as he pulled away from Kai's shoulder, so he could open the gift.

Kai smiled to him, pulling away the paper gently and slowly just to aggravate all the eyes on him.

"A little faster, some of us would like to eat today." Tyson whined out, already wearing his new jacket.

"He's right Kai, hurry up." Ray said, nudging him in the side.

"Alright, alright." Kai laughed, ripping and tearing the paper away to reveal a brown box.

His curiosity piqued he arched a brow, pulling back the flaps of the box where a leather book lay at the bottom. He reached in and pulled it out, setting the box by his feet and then ran his hands over the brown leather tenderly. There was nothing on the front of the book, so he flipped it open across his lap.

The first page stuck out, embedded in the clear plastic covers were photos. All having been taken when the team was first formed, as he flipped through the pages, photos from the second year and third year greeted him and he found himself smiling rather broadly. The last few pages were nothing but photos of him and Ray, doing mundane and everyday things. The last photo having been the kiss they shared under the mistletoe, he looked up at Ray who looked over at Tala.

"What, I thought it went perfectly." Tala shrugged, and Ray smiled.

"I didn't even tell you what I got him." Ray said, though his smile never wavered.

"I got nosy." Tala shrugged again. "Needs a better one though." He smiled, waving his phone in the air.

Kai only smirked, placing the book into his lap and he slightly turned and cupped Ray's cheeks in his hands. Pulling the other teen into a passionate kiss, ignoring the other teens in the room, mainly Tyson as he started making kissing noises again.

"Perfect, we can add it later." Tala sang out, though the other two teens didn't pull apart. "They're going to be there a while, lets go make dinner." He clapped his hands together, and quickly the others scattered to the kitchen.

Ray pulled away, his heart racing in his chest and his face blushed as his eyes met Kai's. "Please don't tell me that was my present."

Kai chuckled and shook his head, letting his hands fall to Ray's shoulders. "No, it wasn't."

"So you did get me something." Ray grinned. "Where is it?"

"Upstairs."

Ray bounced out from under his blanket 'fort', holding his hand out to Kai who took it and he led the other teen up the stairs. "My room or your room?"

"Mine." Kai chuckled, watching Ray acting like a child.

Ray pushed open the door, looking around the room until his eyes landed on a large box sitting on the center of Kai's bed. He pointed to it, his smile widening the width of his mouth, Kai nodded and let Ray's hand go as he went over to the box. Without wasting any time Ray peeled back the top flaps, a gasp leaving his lips as he reached inside.

"He's beautiful Kai." He said, clutching the sleeping grey kitten to his chest. "How long has he been in here?"

"Since last night, that's why the door was locked." Kai shrugged, stepping up to Ray's side and pet the kitten on top of it's head. "Do you like him?"

"Of course I do. Thank you, Kai so much." Ray said, eyes beaming as he kissed Kai's cheek. "Should head downstairs, make sure Tala and the kids don't burn the house down." He chuckled, pulling the kitten to his chest more as Kai placed a hand on his back, leading him out of the room.

"I don't even think Turkeyzilla was pulled out to thaw last night…" Kai mumbled.

"He wouldn't have fit in the oven anyways, I bought a ham instead the other day."

Kai chuckled. "This is why you're the mother."

"Only if you promise to stay the father." Ray smiled back, pausing briefly on the top of the stairs.

"Anything for you." Kai said, tracing a finger along Ray's jaw line before placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"Merry Christmas then, _father_."

"Merry Christmas, _mother_."


End file.
